Harry Potter and the Missing Years
by Kjkit
Summary: Ever wondered what happened in those missing nineteen years? This is my spin on it. Quidditch and family as well as the usual trouble that follows Harry around. Don't forget to R&R! IN PROGRESS
1. Prologue

Prologue: _A new day_.

The sun raised her puissant head over the dark landscape, chasing away the shadows of the night with her refulgent light. It reached into every corner, warming the land and declaring with her visual voice that today was a new day. A different day. A day to be celebrated.

Her herald was accompanied by the noise of awakening wildlife; birds began to sing with more than their usual exuberance, and woodland mammals welcomed each other by rubbing noses and grooming themselves along the banks of the great lake.

But, amidst the wonders that accompany the rising of the sun, there could also be seen something more sinister; evidence that something was not quite right with the world.

A cloud passed across the sky, sending the world into unexpected shadow and causing the fauna to hesitate with their joyful welcoming of the new day.

On the hill that overlooked the great lake, a large and ancient castle stood with past splendour. Green ivy covered the rough brickwork of the tall towers that sent a shiver through any creature that looked upon it's fierce solidity. But the building wasn't without fault, not without suffering. It bore the marks of recent battle, and great scars ran along it's stone walls. Windows were broken and in many places the structure was no longer sound. With the increasing warmth of the early summer morning there came the sound of expanding timbers and crumbling brick. In some places it seemed the walls only remained standing as if assisted by some unseen force.

The sun once again fought her way from behind the cloud that was blocking this view and continued to flood the world with her luminary presence. The land continued to brim with life once again, and although every living creature was aware of the destruction that surrounded it they continued their day-to-day ablutions and habitual routines. For today was a new day. A different day. And each day was to be celebrated.

From inside the castle, the witches and wizards that had taken shelter since the battle that had so grievously injured the great building began to stir. One by one they began to wake, stretching their muscles and greeting their surviving friends. Their moods were dampened, as if they were afraid that celebrating their achievements might somehow offend the spirits of those who didn't survive.

Slowly, they made their way to the windows and to the doors to see what devastation had been brought to the school. But instead of flinching at the scene they began to smile through their tears at the beauty that lay before them, outshining the scars that littered the land between the school building and the lake.

Much like the great sun that was dawning before them, great ideas were forming in their minds; idea's that would ensure that future mistakes would not happen, and never again would the world have to be subject to the destruction that had been witnessed at Hogwarts in recent days. There was no denying that recovery would be a long, hard struggle and some wounds would never heal but as long as the lost were never forgotten, the future looked bright. The shadows of those who had died hung over those that survived, but instead of engulfing them in a gloomy despair they instead lit every living thing from the inside with the hope and chance for new life.

For today was a new day. A different day. And each day was to be celebrated


	2. Chapter 1: Awakening

_Hi folks... it starts again. Been almost a 10 year break, but the writing bug has been relentless, and though life is busy and the going is slow (not to mention that I should really be working on my own original work with the aim to get it published someday), I will post what and where I can! _

_It's gonna be a long one, though I might just split it into sections. Be patient with me, I will post as and when I can, and if you have any scenes, etc you want to see then by all means drop me a review! I will try to counteract the sporadic uploads with longer chapters though. All of this is going to be from Harry's POV, just like the originals, so I was thinking of running another story alongside with other's point's of view and and when it may seem appropriate... let me know what you think. _

_As always, Harry Potter and his friends do not belong to me, however much I wish they did. I am not doing this for money or fame, just for my own enjoyment and, hopefully, the enjoyment of those who choose to read it. Thanks in advance, and don't forget to review!_

_Kit. xxx_

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><p>Chapter 1: <em>Awakening.<em>

The Boy-Who-Lived woke slowly, his groggy mind and crusted eyes testament to the length and depth of sleep he had been subject to. He lay on his front, face buried deep into the softest of pillows and though the room was warm he sensed a thick blanket had been pulled up and over his shoulders, partially blocking his face from the brightness of the sun beyond it's protective embrace.

He slowly forced his eyes open, refusing to let loose the flood of thoughts that were tickling the edges of his awakening consciousness, and could just see bright sunlight escaping past the thick red drapes he recognized from his time as a student of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.

With a twitch of his left hand he pulled the blanket down further, revealing his untamable dark hair which fell messily over a scar shaped like a lightning bolt on his forehead.

Without moving any other part of his body, the seventeen year old wizard squinted around the parts of the room he could now see with his myopic green eyes. Though the images were blurred and indistinct, he could see evidence that at least two of the four other beds in the room had been slept in, though by all accounts the young man currently seemed to be alone in the room.

With a sigh he finally acknowledged the barrage of memories that had been pushing for his attention, squeezing his eyes closed as he reluctantly remembered the events that led up to his need to sleep so heavily for such a long time.

His name was Harry Potter. Since a young age he had been destined to defeat one of the darkest wizards ever known. Tom Riddle, or Lord Voldemort as he became to be known, had terrorized the magical society with his notions of pure-blood supremacy. A prophecy had indicated that a boy would be born and be marked as his equal, and the end would be brought about by one of them dying.

As it turned out, the end of Voldemort's tyrannous reign was due to both he and Harry dying. The evil wizard had gone to great lengths to cheat death, splitting his soul into several parts and securing them away in items known as Horcruxes. As long as at least one of these Horcruxes existed, Voldemort could class himself as immortal.

Harry and his two closest friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, had taken on the quest to hunt down and destroy the Horcruxes after the headmaster of Hogwarts had been killed less than a year before. They had succeeded in destroying all but one of the fragments of soul before Harry had found out that another Horcrux had been created by accident the night Voldemort had come to kill his parents. His mother had protected him by using the old but powerful magic of self-sacrifice, and when the killing curse had rebounded off his infant self, Harry had inadvertently taken a part of Voldemort's soul, oblivious to it's presence as he grew up.

This knowledge explained a lot of his unexplained skills, such as being able to speak parseltongue and his affinity to casting offensive spells, but learning this also meant that Harry had had to make a difficult decision; for Voldemort to die, the fragment of soul he carried within himself had to be destroyed.

With all the bravery he could summon, Harry had walked in the company of ghosts to where Voldemort was waiting and willingly sacrificed himself in order to finish the war and save the remainder of his friends that were still alive.

Like his mother who had willingly sacrificed herself to save him, he had unknowingly called upon the oldest of magic to make his sacrifice count towards the survival of his friends, and it was from that point that Voldemort had been beaten. Any curses that the Dark Lord spelled against his friends had little or no effect on those that he fought against due to the protection Harry had provided with his sacrifice. And, in addition to that, by some wave of Fate's hand, Harry once again survived the Avada Kedavra curse. Whether this was due to his mother's protection over him, or whether this had something to do with the two souls he had been carrying around, Harry wasn't sure. But he had continued to exist and had been able to stand up against the wizard that had killed his parents and defeat him.

With a groan, Harry pushed the heavy covers away from him and levered himself into a seated position, his feet resting on the floor. He barely realised that he was still wearing the same t-shirt and boxer shorts that he had been wearing the day that he had tried to break into Gringott's with Hermione and Ron in order to steal another Horcrux. His body was stiff and sore from the abuse it had been subjected to during the battle and reluctant to respond, but Harry still struggled to pull his t-shirt over his head. Once his chest was bared, he ran his fingers with child-like wonder over the new scar that now adorned his chest, a couple of inches lower than the scar from where Slytherin's necklace had stuck to his skin and Hermione had had to cut it away.

The scar was where the second Avada Kedavra curse had hit him. Unlike the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, this scar would heal to be an imperfect circle with an irregular edge, resembling a six-pointed star in it's appearance. He winced as he touched the area with his fingertips, gently prodding at the deep purple and swollen skin that covered the left hand side of his chest.

His breath hitched at the sight, and the cough that followed sent sharp daggers of pain through his body, particularly around his ribs which felt like they had been shattered into several hundred needle-sized shards. With a sniff, he pushed himself to his feet. Not bothering to try to find his glasses, and thus not seeing the note written in Hermione's neat handwriting on the bedside table, he made his way to the bathroom.

With automated movements he turned the shower on to warm up as he relieved himself. Once he felt the respite of that action he shed his remaining clothes and stepped under the scalding water, placing his hands against the tiled walls and allowing the steady stream of water to fall over his head and shoulders, bringing with it a sense of awareness of the rest of his body, reminding Harry that he had really survived that night; Voldemort was gone

With that revelation came several others, and Harry felt a unfounded sense of panic rush through him and could once again see with sudden clarity Fred Weasley's eyes staring blankly into his own, immediately followed by the motionless bodies of Remus and Tonks lying side by side in the room off of the great hall, their hands almost touching but never to grip each other again.

His chest ached with the image of his friends, but his attention was distracted by a cry of such despair that he raised his head and held his breath, waiting to hear the noise again so that he could trace it's source. With sudden realisation, he knew that the noise had come from himself and it broke him to know that he would never see them again.

He fell to his knees, his hands sliding down the tiles as he began to weep, remembering Sirius and Remus and the others that had died in recent years because of war that revolved around him and Voldemort. His memory went back to his walk into the forest and the warm smiles of his father and mother, and his sobs ran deeper, brushing the deepest parts of his soul that suddenly felt so much more vulnerable now that Voldemort's presence could no longer support it.

He continued to cry for some time, until his aching chest felt empty of emotion and his eyes stared blankly at the tiles in front of him. Hot water continued to fall down onto him and the room was filled with steam, but Harry did not notice. After several minutes of sitting in this state he forced his mind to start functioning again, and could not recall a time when he had cried with such fervour. From an early age, living with relatives that cared not for him nor his parents he had learnt that it was better to suppress his tears for they were a sign of weakness and would bring about no sympathy. Since he had come to the school he could count on his hands the number of times he had shed a tear, but not one of those instances would have come close to the heart wrenching sobs he had just emitted.

The hollow feeling inside him felt almost comforting in comparison to the anguish he had felt as he continued to kneel on the floor, his wet hair falling into his itchy eyes. He sniffed one last time, pulling himself out of his stupor and wiping his hand over his face to stimulate some sort of feeling into it. Not without effort he made it to his feet and made a half-hearted attempt to clean himself thoroughly, and trying to his thoughts away from any memories that would upset him he started to take a clinical note of the new scars that adorned his body.

Other than the large bruise and new scar from the Avada Kedavra curse on his chest that throbbed in tandem with his breathing, there were several burn marks that were likely to scar on his hands and arms from the bewitched treasure in Lestrange's vault. He could also feel a deep cut on the side of his face from where the wall of the school had exploded, killing Fred. He quickly cleaned out the wound and continued to examine his body, unable to continue that line of thought for very long.

In addition to the various scars that had already healed on his body, such as the bite wounds from Nagini and the basilisk, the wound around his neck from where Slytherin's necklace had tried to drown him, and the scars on the back of his hand that read "I must not tell lies", Harry discovered several smaller scars that did not concern him, and a larger number of bruises that contributed to constant stiffness and general aches that plagued him. All in all he concluded that with all his limbs intact, he was still in a better shape than Mad-eyed Moody. He snorted bitterly, remembering that Moody had died the previous year, killed whilst transporting Harry from his relatives house in Little Whinging to Ron's home in Ottery St Mary.

With a final rinse, Harry switched off the water, silently expressing his gratitude the magical institution he was in for a constant source of hot water, and stepped out of the shower cubicle.

Almost instantly his blurred gaze fell on the bright contrast of a fluffy white towel neatly placed on the chair next to the sink. Harry frowned slightly as he picked it up, grateful that someone had been thoughtful enough to leave one there for him to use, but unable to remember if he had noticed it on the way into the bathroom or not.

He made his way to the sink and felt a small smile warm his face when he discovered his toothbrush lying on small shelf in front of the steamed up mirror. Hermione must've left it there from him before she had gone downstairs. He picked it up and started to brush, using the fingers of his free hand to wipe the steam clear from the mirror.

The image that stared back at him made him hesitate with his brushing for a brief second, before making him frown with concern. It was clear from the mirror image that he had lost a lot of weight. He looked down and noticed that his ribs were visible through his skin. Though not completely emancipated, it was clear that a year on the run, living on not much more than boiled mushrooms and supplies from the odd grocery shop had done nothing for him during his latest growth spurt. Though he was never going to be as tall as Ron, Harry had known that he had grown several inches over the past year and it was evident that not even the regular meals prepared by Kreacher and the more recent meals at Bill and Fleur's had done much to replace the fat he had lost from before.

As he spat into the sink and rinsed, trying to work out how long it had been since he had ate. The trio had eaten before their escapade in Gringott's, but he couldn't remember having a substantial meal since. His stomach growled in appreciation of this thought, and as Harry stepped through the bathroom door back into the dormitory he his eyes immediately fell onto a plate filled with several neatly cut sandwiches which had been placed on his recently made bed.

Harry glanced around the room, squinting in the bright sunshine and just making out a small figure standing at the foot of his bed.

"Kreacher?" he asked.

"Master Harry."

Harry smiled briefly at the formal greeting from the house-elf, and went over to the bedside table to collect his glasses. He registered the note from Hermione sitting next to where he had been sleeping, before turning around to look at the house-elf properly.

Kreacher stood there, hands folded respectively in front of him, dressed in a clean tea towel and with the fake locket still hanging around his neck.

"I felt Master Harry would appreciate some food after sleeping for so long." Kreacher said, shifting from one foot to another as Harry stared at him.

"Thank you, Kreacher." Harry said. "And thank you for the help you and the others gave us during the battle. I saw you racing out of the kitchen when the Death Eaters broke through the door."

Kreacher nodded. "We were happy to help, Master Harry." he said, and frowned when he noticed the great bruise covering Harry's chest. "But Master Harry is injured! He should be seeing a medical-witch."

Harry glanced down at himself, and looked around for something to cover himself up with. He almost instantly spotted a change of clean clothes folded at the bottom of his bed. He glanced to Kreacher again as he pulled an unfamiliar white shirt on and started to button it up.

"I'll be okay." he assured the house-elf, though when he replayed his words in his head he realised how little he believed it himself. The wounds on his chest made his ribs hurt every time he breathed, causing his voice to sound breathless and without emotion. "I'll see Madame Pomfrey a little later on for something to help with the bruising." he added after a brief hesitation.

The house-elf seemed to accept his words and nodded. "Kreacher hopes Master Harry won't be mad, but Miss Granger asked Kreacher to come up to check on Master Harry until you woke up. Kreacher heard Master Harry in the bathroom and is concerned that Master Harry is unhappy about something."

Harry sat down heavily on the bed, towel still wrapped around his waist. "I'll be okay, Kreacher." Harry said. "I think the past couple of days got to me and I just had to let out everything in one go."

"So Master Harry is feeling better?" Kreacher asked hesitantly.

Harry thought about his answer for a moment before speaking. "Not really." he said. "I don't really know what to feel to be honest. I'm relieved it's all over. But upset that so many people had to die before I worked out what I was supposed to do to finish it. I'm also worried about what's going to happen next. Now that he's gone what am I supposed to do? I've been so closely attached to Voldemort's soul for so long now, am I going to survive without it? Was I even supposed to survive? Maybe I should've stayed dead. I was given the choice but…"

He glanced to his left when he saw movement and turned to see Kreacher sitting on the bed next to him, his head slightly to one side, his wide eyes staring and his large ears taking in every word Harry spoke.

"I'm sorry, Kreacher." Harry said. "You probably don't even realise what I'm waffling on about. Basically, I've had a bit of Voldemort's soul inside me since I was a baby." he pointed to the locket dangling against Kreacher's chest. "And much like the necklace Regulus tried to destroy, that bit of soul inside me had to be destroyed as well."

Kreacher nodded. "The house-elves know what happened, Master Harry." he said. "There was a meeting yesterday, to plan funerals and repairs, and to work out who was still missing. They spoke of how you gave your life to save everyone, and how you survived the killing curse again. I don't think even the McGonagal-lady or the Black-Minister knows how Master Harry survived, but they, like the house-elves, are counting it as some sort of miracle."

The house-elf reached out a small hand and placed it on Harry's arm. "I am honoured to be yours, Master Harry."

Harry was lost for words at the small, yet tender gesture from the house-elf that had once sworn at him and called him names for stepping foot into the Black-family home. He smiled and nodded at the house-elf before replying. "I am also greatly honoured to have you as a house-elf, Kreacher." he said in a husky voice.

Unable to take in a deep breath to steady himself, Harry bit hard on his lower lip, trying to fight back the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him again. Kreacher sensed the battle going on inside him and jumped to the floor. "One of your friends left Master Harry the clothes." he said, pointing at the trousers and other items of clothing that were left piled at the end of the bed. "Miss Granger asked Kreacher to let her know when Master Harry woke. Would Master Harry like me to tell her that you will be coming down?"

Harry nodded. "That would be great, thank you, Kreacher."

The house-elf nodded and disappeared with the smallest of noises. Harry sighed and finished getting changed, taking a couple of mouthfuls of sandwich before deciding that he hadn't been hungry after all. He sat on the edge of his bed and reached for the letter neatly penned in his friend's handwriting. He quickly unfolded the parchment and cast his eyes over the contents of the letter.

_Morning Harry! _

_I hope you slept well. We all slept long after what happened, but Ron and I felt that you deserved not to be woken last night. We got a bit worried when you still hadn't woken when we got up again this morning, but Madam Pomfrey said that she would check on you later today when she gets time. She didn't seemed particularly concerned, even when we told her what had happened in the forest. She seems to think that you'll bounce back like all the other times. I'm hoping that will be the case, and that you'll read this letter before we come and check up on you this lunchtime. You do seem to be sleeping very peacefully._

_Anyway, Ron and I will be heading down to help make things safe. Full repairs are going to start once the memorial service has been held, but some areas of the castle are just too hazardous to leave the way they are. Some of the teachers set some temporary support spells last night, but they won't last long with the weight of the castle to hold. Feel free to come down to join us when you feel up to it. _

_I feel that you ought to be forewarned that there are a lot of people down here that want to see you - and thank you - for what you've done. I know how much you hate being in the public eye, but you aren't going to get away from this. Ron and I have been followed constantly since we emerged from common room and the new Minister - Shacklebolt - was trying to get us to meet with him to explain what we were up to all last year. McGonagall has been doing the same. We told them that there was no point meeting with us without you there, but, knowing you, you're going to need some time before that meeting. We tried to tell them but I don't know if they listened. As an alternative, Ron has hidden your cloak under the corner of your mattress. I think he was hoping I wouldn't notice, but we both understand if you want to use it today. If only until you meet up with us to support you. _

_Well, I hope to see you soon. Send Kreacher if you would like Ron or myself to come up. _

_With love, Hermione._

Harry took a deep breath and put the letter to one side after quickly reading through it twice. He appreciated the warning that there were still a lot of people in the castle that wanted to see him. He supposed that it shouldn't be that surprising that he was suddenly the wizarding world's hero again, for he had just defeated Voldemort.

He groaned with realisation and dropped his head into his hands, wincing as he caught the cut that ran along his hairline as he gripped his hair between his fingers and pulled hard. He had not only defeated what had been proclaimed to be the most evil wizard ever, but he had also done so with nothing more than a lot of talk and an expelliarmus. Not to mention that he had risen from the dead to do it. There were going to be thousands of questions of how he had done it, where he had been for the past year, and where the Elder wand was now.

His head snapped up when he suddenly recalled the Elder Wand. Wizarding legend spoke of three brothers who had been approached by Death and granted one wish each. One had desired a way to not be seen by death and was given an invisibility cloak, another had desired the ability to bring back the dead and had been given a ring that would, to some extent, allow him to do this. The final brother had asked for an unbeatable wand and his wish was granted. These brothers had been Harry's distant ancestors, and though most wizards thought that the three Hallows were nothing more than the subject of a magical fairy tale, Harry had come to possess all three of them.

It was the loyalty of the Elder Wand of legend that had been the final link in Voldemort's destructive chain. It was rumored to be the most powerful wand ever made, and Harry began to panic when he realized he had no idea where he had put it the night he had returned to the dormitory and fell asleep.

He started looking around frantically, pulling open the drawers in his bedside table, and even looking under the bed in case it had fallen off the table top and rolled underneath. He stood up, scratching the back of his head and briefly wondered where his own wand was, when his gaze fell on his neatly made bed. With a long stride to the bedside his hand dove under his pillow and he was able to heave a large sigh of relief, wincing at the sharp pains that shot up and down the left side of his chest, when his hand closed on the familiar feel of his holly-and-phoenix feather wand and the back of his fingers nudged the wood of another.

He pulled both the wands out and sat back on the bed, running his fingers lovingly over his own wand, which had been broken since Christmas but had been repaired by the limitless power of the Elder Wand. Harry then took this wand of myth up in his left hand and examined it closely. It didn't look particularly special - the wood was old and worn and had long lost it's shine - but as Harry's hand closed around the grip, he could feel it quiver with the need to be used.

He frowned, knowing that he held a great deal of power in his hand and with it came great responsibility. His old headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, had used the wand for many years, and though he had used it for good Harry knew that the lure of having all three of the Hallows had been his mentor's undoing. Harry knew that he had made the right choice that night, letting Voldemort break into Dumbledore's tomb to steal the wand whilst Harry concentrated on destroying the Horcruxes. But now the danger was past, what was to stop Harry from keeping the wand himself?

He shook his head, clearing his mind of any temptation and reminding himself of how dangerous the wand was. He stood up, hiding the Elder Wand in the waistband of his trousers and his own wand in his pocket. He knew that the sooner he could get rid of the wand, the less likely he would be tempted to use it the rest of his life. It was a given that the power of the wand would eventually get to him, maybe even fool him enough to think that he really was immortal and unbeatable - the folly that had befallen many of the wand's previous owners. There were not many people who would be able to own the Wand of Destiny without succumbing to its desire to be used constantly, and Harry doubted he had the strength Dumbledore displayed to withstand the temptation.

No, he had to hide it. Though maybe returning it to Dumbledore's tomb was not the best plan. He made his way to the door, forgetting to pick up his invisibility cloak as he thought over several different places he could hide the wand.

The common room was empty when he walked down the stairs. It was messy, with clothes and blankets strewn everywhere, implying that several people had used it to sleep in the night before. He made his way to the portrait door and pushed it open, noting that the portrait's occupant seemed to be missing.

He walked down the corridor, mindful that several other portraits were empty, causing an unnatural silence to befall the castle. Though the sun was high in the sky and the temperature warm, Harry wrapped his arms around his bruised ribs to ward of the chills he was feeling. The place had the same haunting presence he imagined the Marie Celeste had when her crew disappeared, and though the bright sunlight burned its way through the leaded windows, Harry couldn't help but shiver.

Step-by-step he walked down the stairs towards the main entrance hall. As he neared the silence began to be replaced by the sound of movement and chatter. There was not much laughter, and at one point he thought he could hear someone crying, but it was clear that all the people below were moving with a purpose.

When he reached the lower levels, Harry discretely leaned over the stone banister to look below. He blinked when he saw the number of people gathered below, all moving from place to place on various errands. Some were carrying supply packages into the hall, others moving in small groups, pouring over pieces of parchment and animatedly discussing their comments.

Moving past the activity, Harry could see small groups standing stationary, working together to repair the damage the entrance hall had sustained two days previously. One of the pair of solid oak entrance doors had been removed completely and couldn't be seen, the other was currently being re-hung on new hinges. The walls on either side of the door looked as if they had already seen some efforts for a temporary fix, though Harry noticed that the finishing touches, such as a proper grouting job, still needed to be done.

In the other direction, the doorway to the hall had not fared much better. The main frame had also been made safe, considering the number of people that were using the entrance, but both doors were missing and in Harry's opinion some serious reconstruction work was needed to replace the dislodged bricks on either side. In addition to the structural damage, the room also sported several scorch marks from stray curses, and the floor was stained in places by suspiciously dark stains.

Harry gulped, smelling the mix of smoke and dust with the coppery aftertaste of what could only be spilled blood. He felt his throat tighten up when he spotted several people he knew, including Ginny who had just walked in from outside, her hair tied back in a messy ponytail, and the dirt smudges on her face combining with the couple of scars and bruises she had received during the battle.

His heart stopped when he saw the tired and wretched look on her face. But as he watched, her expression lifted with what he could only describe as hope as she raised herself up on her toes, scanning the crowd before her as if looking for someone.

Without even thinking why, Harry spun on his heel and started to race up the stairs, mindful enough to duck slightly to avoid the attention of all the people below him. He didn't know the reasons for his actions, he couldn't even make sense of the fear that coursed through his veins, but as he struggled to force his injured lungs to breathe as he ran he did know he couldn't face seeing his friends just yet.


	3. Chapter 2: Facing the world

Chapter 2: _Facing the World_

Much later that afternoon, Harry was sat on the top of Astronomy Tower, looking out over the school ground in the summer sunshine and mindlessly watching as people walked amongst the debris and blood soaked grass that had been left behind from what was now being called the Great Battle.

He had been sat, unmoving, for several hours now, leaning against one of the stone uprights one-hundred foot above the grounds with nothing stopping him from toppling sideways to the ground below. His feet were resting on the wall in front of him with his arms wrapped around his legs and his head resting on his knees. The afternoon sun had been burning down on him for some time, causing his skin to flush, but he craved the excessive warmth in order to fight away the chills he experienced every time he thought about facing his friends below.

Harry could see the miniature figures below moving about their business, trying to erase the evidence of the battle that had taken place there. It was clear that all those who had died or injured had been dealt with, though whether by being transported to St. Mungos hospital or to Hogwarts' own medical ward he didn't know. He had thought for some time on where those that had died may have been taken, his heart fluttering when he saw the lines of bodies that had been lain out in the side room off of the Great Hall. He supposed that he should feel relief and happiness now that Voldemort was dead, but his memory of that room, and the unknown number that may have joined them after that final fight, sucked any sense of joy from him.

He was unaware of how much time had passed when he heard the sound of the staircase door opening behind him. He sensed more than heard the magic of a patronus message being sent before soft footsteps came towards him.

"Harry?" a soft female voice asked tentatively.

Harry closed his eyes, mentally picturing his friend coming up behind him, her hand tentatively reaching out to him but not willing to touch in case he was startled and slipped off his perilous perch high above the rest of the castle. She had stood by him more than any other this past year, and though he knew he owed her more than anything and should thank her, he couldn't summon the desire for her company.

"Harry? It's me, Hermione. We've been looking all over for you. We've been really worried, are you okay?"

Harry didn't turn his head or acknowledge his friend was there. He felt the cautious brush of Hermione's fingers as she finally touched his shoulder, and then a firmer grip as her hand moved across his shoulders and cupped around his head, turning it away from what was going on below and against her side in a firm embrace.

He felt her long, bushy hair fall against the side of his face as she hugged him fiercely, and felt a strange pressure building up in his chest as he realised how much he had needed this.

He let his arms reach behind her back, pulling her in close and feeling her respond by gripping him tighter. Though he had no tears left to cry, Harry let the images of the past year and all those he had lost surround him and he drew strength from Hermione's embrace to face them. His chest heaved once or twice with silent sobs that built within him, but Hermione's constant rubbing of his back helped him calm the emotional turmoil that was threatening to overwhelm him.

He smiled his gratitude to his friend as he pulled away after several long minutes, briefly casting his eyes over his friend's bandaged hands before looking back out over the school as a shout was carried up on the wind from the edge of the forest, and several people ran to assist two stretchers being carried out from between the trees, both supporting two injured wizards who had so far remained undiscovered in the undergrowth.

"It's such a mess." he said quietly, watching them make their way across the grounds.

Hermione nodded beside him, leaning up against the same stone upright he was and keeping one hand supportively on his shoulder. "We were all in shock that first night." she said softly. "After you went to bed people just walked around, undecided between leaping for joy or crying at their losses. It was so strange. The next day was spent finding survivors and identifying the dead. There are still a lot of people missing so that's why we've started looking in the forest."

Harry jerked slightly at Hermione's words. "I can't believe I've slept for so long." he said. "I could've helped."

"It's not so surprising is it?" she asked. "You had been through a lot."

Harry didn't move, just continued to stare down at the grounds. If you looked hard enough, you could descry the wounds on the bodies as they were walked up to the main entrance door. Harry watched as one of the wizards walking next to the stretcher on the right slowly reached over, pulling the injured man's cloak over his face, a clear indication that the death toll had risen by one more.

Hermione waited a few long minutes waiting for Harry to speak, her eyes taking in what his did, but patiently waiting for him to break the silence. When he didn't she rubbed his shoulder a little. "Tell me what you're thinking, Harry." she said, inviting him to try and voice the indistinct snippets of thought that only hovered for a moment in his mind, before being replaced with something equally horrifying.

Harry sighed as deep as his injured ribs would allow, trying to put his emotions into words, but nothing could describe what it was he felt.

"I did feel relief." he said, sucking another breath into his reluctant lungs. "To start with. When we were talking to Dumbledore in the office. And on the way up to the common room. It was finally over."

"And now?" Hermione prompted when he fell silent again.

Harry shrugged slightly. "Nothing." he admitted, glancing towards his friend. "I broke down a bit when I woke up, when the full impact of what's happened hit me. But now it just feels like something is missing somehow. Maybe I can sense the fact the Horcrux is no longer there, I don't really know. It could be guilt, for all those people who died. If only I had realised things sooner a lot of people would still be alive. At the same time I just feel empty, like I have no purpose anymore." he glanced at Hermione. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Hermione smiled at him, her eyes sad. "Baby steps." she said. "Today I take you downstairs to spend time with your friends. Tomorrow, we will help with the repairs to the school. The memorial service will be held in a couple of days, and once the funerals are over, we'll assess the situation again."

Even though Harry could hear what she was saying, he knew he didn't want to listen. He couldn't imagine anything changing the way that he felt now. And the thought of seeing the rest of the Weasleys after Fred's death scared him, sending another shiver down his spine. He suddenly thought of poor little Teddy Lupin, Tonks and Remus' newborn son who had been orphaned within the first few months of his life. He looked out over the ground again, each breath burning his lungs as if to tell him that he didn't deserve to be living after so many truly good people had lost their lives for something he could have prevented.

"Harry, you aren't to blame for any of this." Hermione said, sensing Harry's mood change. "If anything, we all owe you our lives. If you hadn't appeared when you did in the hall, it wouldn't have been long before we lost."

"What about Fred? And Remus and Tonks?" Harry glanced to Hermione, his vision blurring. "How do you tell Teddy that his parents are dead? He's even younger than I was when my parents died!"

"You just remind him that they loved him very much, and that's why they did what they did. Just like what your parents did for you. Besides, Teddy will grow up having something that you never did."

Harry looked up and met his friend's gaze. "You." She said with a small smile that reached her eyes. "You'll never let him forget his parents, and you would never let him forget what meant so much to them." she winked at him slightly. "I think you just found your new purpose."

Harry looked at her and couldn't help but return her smile, even if his didn't reach his puffy, red eyes. "What would I do without you?" he asked with a whisper.

"Not a lot." she said, pulling him into a hug again. "But what's a big sister for?"

Harry pulled back slightly and looked in her face, sending her a question with his eyes.

"Ron told me about what you said to him after he had destroyed the locket." she replied. "I went through all this with him yesterday. He got a lot off his chest and felt a lot better for it." she blushed slightly. "It may seem like the wrong way to say this, but all this has brought us together even closer. He just wanted to make sure that you were okay with us being together."

Harry smiled, "I think a lot of people will be thankful you've both finally got it together." he said. "It's been driving us crazy for years." Hermione blushed again slightly and nodded in acknowledgement. "I just wish you had realised under better circumstances." Harry continued, feeling some of the emotional tightness leave his body as he exhaled. "Have you had a chance to think about things yet?" he asked, looking to his friend.

Hermione thought about his question carefully before shaking her head. "What with Fred gone, the whole of the Weasley family is pretty cut up. George has withdrawn into himself somewhat. Bill and Charlie have been looking after Ginny and Percy. Mrs Weasley is inconsolable and Mr Weasley has not left her side except to speak with Kingsley about getting the ministry up and running again. I've been trying to be strong for Ron. He's trying so hard to act like Bill and Charlie, but he was a lot closer in age to the twins. I'll just keep it together until I get my parents home safe." she said the last with a small, determined lift of her chin, though Harry could see her eyes filling with tears.

Harry just shook his head, and swung his legs round to give her a proper hug. "You could always come to me." he said. "I owe you so much for everything you've helped me with these past few years. Not to mention saving my life how many times? The least I can do is be there for you when you need it." He smiled slightly as he felt the first tears fall onto his shirt. "After all," he added, rubbing soft circles into Hermione's shoulder. "Little brothers may be annoying and always getting into trouble, but we have to be good for something, right?"

He heard Hermione laugh slightly in between her sniffles and willingly held her whilst she released her emotions in much the same way as he had earlier that day. Though he knew he would normally feel helpless in such situations - crying females had never really been his thing - he felt some sort of purpose seeping into his body again. Even though many of his friends had been lost, he could still be there and help those that had been left behind.

When Hermione finally pulled away, rubbing her eyes and pulling her hair back over her shoulders, she huffed out a breath and smiled a little.

"Feel better?" Harry asked and she nodded.

"I think I do." she said with a nod. "Thanks."

"Anytime." Harry replied, stretching out his legs a little before sliding off the stone parapet and wincing as his skin stretched against his bruised ribs.

"Harry?" Hermione asked with concern as he rubbed at the offending spot.

"I'll be okay." he assured her, puffing out a breath to ease the tension. "The Avada Kedavra just packs a bit of a punch, you know?"

Hermione frowned further and insisted on seeing the wound for herself, impatiently restraining herself as Harry reluctantly undid the buttons of his borrowed shirt and let her examine the extent of his injuries.

"I don't remember it hurting this much the first time." he said as she prodded gently around his star shaped wound.

Hermione just rolled her eyes at him before straightening up. "I think you really ought to see Madame Pomfrey about that." she said. "Though the wound looks healed, it does look like it goes quite deep and you shouldn't risk getting it infected." She frowned slightly, and Harry knew she was noting how the star-like mark was directly over his heart. "I'm sure she can provide some Essence of Murtlap to help with your burns as well."

Harry just shrugged as he did up the buttons. "I'm sure she's got more than enough patients on her hands." he said. "I'll be fine."

"Harry, that curse is directly over your heart!"

"So?" Harry asked. "He was a good shot and I don't think he wanted to risk the chance of missing again. By all intents and purposes I know I should be dead right now. But I'm not. And other than being a little emotionally messed up and terrified of going downstairs, I'm going to be fine."

He watched as his friend put her hands on her hips and stared at him accusingly. "You will listen to me, Mister Potter." she said when Harry just raised his hands as if to say "what?" "Don't you deny that that scar hurts! I can hear you struggling to breathe!"

"Fine!" Harry relented, giving in to Hermione's relentless glare. "I'll go and see her."

"Now?"

Harry winced. "We have to go now?" he asked.

"We can go via the upper floors." Hermione told him, taking his least injured wrist and leading him to the stairwell door. "Though there is some damage there, most people are working downstairs. We shouldn't bump into anyone and once you've seen her you can decide whether or not you can face going downstairs or want another evening to gather yourself."

The route was relatively quick through the silent castle. The portraits were still absent from their frames but Harry didn't feel like asking Hermione where they would have gone, and the once lop-sided gargoyle outside the headmaster's office had been pushed back into place, though still looked more than a little worse for wear. Every corridor was covered in a thick film of brick dust, and in places the wall had been destroyed completely by missiles that had been thrown from the attackers outside.

As they neared their destination, Hermione smiled encouragingly at Harry as she pushed open the door to the hospital wing and led the way in. Harry looked over at the beds, half of which were occupied and being tended to by several medi-witches in the recognised uniform of St. Mungos.

"Wait here." Hermione said, gently brushing her hand against Harry's shoulder. "I'll just go and see if Madame Pomfrey is in her office."

Harry nodded obediently as his friend walked up the ward, and moved to one side of the double doors, trying to remain inconspicuous as the matrons went about their duties.

"Harry!"

Harry turned his head to see Dean sitting up in the bed to his right. In an attempt to divert the attention away from himself standing alone near the doorway, he walked over, turning his back on the ward to greet his friend.

"You okay?" he asked, taking in Dean's dull complexion and trembling hands.

Dean nodded. "Yeah." he said, pulling back the blanket he was covered with to reveal a heavily bandaged leg. "I was hit by a falling stone whilst trying to repair one of the columns in the transfiguration courtyard." he said. "Snapped my leg clean in two. Madame Pomfrey thinks it's best for me to be asleep before giving me Skelegrow. Apparently it isn't the most pleasant of sensations."

Harry nodded, remembering the one time he had been made to drink Skele-Grow in his second year when he had had to regrow all the bones in his hand after an incompetent professor had managed to make them all disappear. He glanced around the ward behind him, taking in the number of occupied beds and the one or two freshly made mattresses.

"I imagined that there would have been a lot more casualties." he mentioned aloud.

"Oh, these are just the minor injuries, those that are easily remedied." Dean said. "All the more serious cases were taken to St. Mungos yesterday. The hospital sent over a few medi-witches to help Madame Pomfrey here, and she is constantly flooing over there to check on the students."

"I thought all the students had been evacuated?" Harry said, his head snapping back to look at his friend, concern weighing heavily in his features.

"Most were." Dean assured him. "But the DA came back to help once all the students were safe. Plus there were a lot of other students that had taken an active stand against Snape whilst he was the headmaster. Most of them risked their lives throughout the year for what they believed in and they weren't going to miss out on seeing it all finished. The Patil twins were pretty badly injured, though I haven't heard anything about their condition today. Seamus was also taken away with a head injury, he was still unconscious when I last saw him but Madame Pomfrey states he should be fine once he wakes up. He'll be gutted that he missed the final showdown."

Dean cast his eyes diagnostically over Harry, noting the way Harry had one arm pressed against his chest. "You here for your burns?" he asked.

Harry blinked slightly when the conversation was turned to focus on himself. He looked down to where Dean indicated the burns on his hands and forearms. Since dousing them in water during the extensive shower he had taken that morning, most of the wounds had turned soft and dark, like a loose layer of skin that ran over most of the surface of the back of his hands. He ran a finger over one to find the sensation uncomfortable and slightly painful, though nothing compared to that of his aching chest.

He took a deep but slow breath, trying to ease the asthmatic feel before speaking and nodded. "Amongst other things." he said. "Hermione felt I needed a full once over after getting hit by a couple of less-than-savoury curses."

"Did the burns come from the dragon?"

Harry could sense the general decline in the activity of the ward behind him as Dean asked his questions and he was sure that, if he had eyes in the back of his head, he would see everyone waiting for his answer.

"Not exactly." he said. "The dragon really didn't harm us at all, though I wouldn't want to ride one again anytime soon. But the treasure in the older Gringott's vaults have curses on them to prevent people with unauthorised access from stealing them. Most of the burns came from that."

Dean nodded, and Harry could see he was eager to ask more questions but was distracted by someone walking up to the bed behind him.

Harry felt a hand on his elbow and turned to see Hermione standing there. "She will check you over in her office." she said with a small smile.

Harry nodded, grateful that his examination was not going to be subject to a dozen extra pairs of eyes.

"I'll see you later." he said to Dean, who nodded but called out as Harry turned to walk away.

Harry turned his head to see what his friend wanted, and Dean spoke with an apologetic look on his face. "Harry, you may be the saviour of the wizarding world, and we are grateful for that, but, mate, you look like crap!"

For a moment Harry was shocked by Dean's words, then a small smile broke through all the negative feelings that he had been carrying around with him. "And there I was thinking I had the "just-got-out-of-bed" look." he returned.

Dean nodded, then sobered up slightly. "Anyone of us, the DA that is, will be here if you need us, Harry." he said earnestly. "What you've done, it can't have been easy. And somehow I don't think worst is over, for you anyway."

Harry frowned, not understanding what his friend meant until Dean nodded his head to all the long-necks listening into their conversation from around the ward.

Hermione gently took his elbow, guiding him through the stares before he could thank Dean, making it clear to the overly eager faces that Harry wasn't here on a social visit. But even as he was rushed through the room, Harry made the effort to spare a small smile and nod to those who called his name or waved before his full attention was taken by the ward matron as she came out of her office.

Madame Pomfrey froze as her eyes rested on Harry, and with a sudden rush she ran forward and pulled him into an embrace.

Harry awkwardly patted her on the shoulder as he sent a helpless look at Hermione. His friend just shrugged in return, and started to examine her nails in jest, succeeding in making Harry's smile return.

A couple of seconds later Madame Pomfrey pushed herself away, quickly swiping at a tear from under one eye before addressing Harry. "Well, Mister Potter, for a moment there I thought you had finally done something I couldn't treat you for!"

Harry nodded. "I have to admit that I'm slightly surprised to be here myself." he said.

Madame Pomfrey just shook her head in disbelief before putting her hands on his shoulders and pushing him into her office. "Well, let's see how much damage you've caused." she said, indicating for Harry to take a seat on the small cot in the corner of her office and to take his shirt off.

She visibly winced when she saw the bruising radiating out from the scar on his chest, but quickly put on her bedside manner and pushed Harry gently back onto a number of pillows. "Well, at least you came in walking." she said, pushing her fingers into the bruising and making note of how much Harry reacted to the pain. "That's usually a good sign."

Harry nodded, trying to school his features to not react to the pain he felt each and every time the medi-witch pressed against his ribs. "I just got a bit of bruising." he said. "But Hermione suggested I get it checked out."

Madame Pomfrey just raised one eyebrow at him before looking to Hermione. "And the real reason he's here?" she asked his friend, causing Harry to roll his eyes.

"He was struggling to breathe a bit when I found him." she said, ignoring the glare Harry was sending her from his prone position on the bed. "I suspect it is something more than "just bruising"."

Madame Pomfrey nodded, before turning back to Harry. "Well, the breathing problems would be due to the curse breaking a couple of your ribs on impact. Though how you managed to survive another of those curses with such minor consequences is beyond me." she said.

"Just immune I guess." Harry quipped, regretting his words as soon as Madame Pomfrey stuck her fingers into a particularly painful spot on his chest.

"No witty come-backs, Potter. Be thankful that I don't think this is serious enough to warrant me trying to keep you bed-bound for the next few days. Needless to say I don't want you running around over exerting yourself until they are healed. Understood?"

Harry nodded compliantly, listening as the nurse continued with her assessment, running her fingers over his head and examining the cut on his forehead before checking each of his arms. "As for the bruising, I'm afraid you are going to have to live with it. I am going to give that chest wound a good clean out to prevent infection, but as there is no research on how magic could affect the scar left behind by an Avada Kedavra, I'm reluctant to use anything with magical properties to assist it to heal. We'll just have to monitor it closely and let nature take it's course."

She stepped back picking up a bowl from her desk. "I'm going to get some water to clean out those wounds and we'll bandage you up good and tight. There's no reason why you shouldn't be out of here once we're done." she said, bustling out through the door, mindful to only open it wide enough to let herself through and prevent curious eyes from trying to get a glimpse of Harry lying semi-clad on the bed.

"Thanks for the moral support." Harry said to Hermione, causing her to smile and join him near the bed.

"You're welcome." she replied pleasantly, randomly picking up a medical journal off the edge of Madame Pomfrey's desk and flipping through it whilst Harry laid back against the soft pillows, closing his eyes and letting his eyes fall shut whilst he waited for the medi-witch to return.

Their peace was broken by a knock on the door. Hermione stood up and opened it a crack before letting in the person behind.

"Hey mate, you had us going there for a moment." Ron said as he came in. "I got Hermione's patronus saying that she had found you, and guess I was right in thinking that you would eventually end up here again."

Harry looked up at his friend. The tall and lanky red head looked pale, with dark circles under his eyes. Like Hermione, he had thin bandages around his hands where they had been burned, but there was a small smile on his face for seeing his friend again that widened as he took more steps over to the bed, and stooped low enough to pull his friend into a warm embrace.

Harry bit his lip against the pain, but refused to let go until Ron mumbled something unintelligible into his hair and pulled back, his eyes looking overly misty. Ron glanced down, obviously trying to gather his emotions together before his girlfriend could see, and frowned when he saw the deep wound on Harry's chest.

"Is that where…?"

Harry nodded. "I didn't really feel it before, but I guess it took a little time for the bruises to develop properly."

Ron nodded, "And the hole in the middle didn't concern you in anyway?" he asked.

Harry just shrugged, and Hermione tried to divert Ron's attention from his friend slightly by starting to hypothesis on the effects of the killing curse. "The curse must leave a mark when it doesn't succeed in killing its victim." Hermione supposed. "Though doesn't leave any trace at all when it actually kills someone. As we haven't got anyone else to compare it to, I guess we'll just have to keep that as a conclusion until some other idea comes to light."

"You think it's going to stay a funny shape like the one on your head?" Ron asked, leaning in to look a little closer, and reaching out to trace the star shaped scar in the air.

Harry just frowned at him, then raised a hand to push his inquisitive friend away by his forehead.

"How is everyone else?" he asked him as Madame Pomfrey entered back into the room with a bowl of warm water and a cloth. She took Ron's position by the bed and started swabbing at Harry's wounds, giving the scar along his hairline a cursory swipe before starting on his chest.

If anything Ron turned a shade paler, highlighting the dark rings around his eyes. "Mum's pretty shook up." he said quietly, subconsciously reaching out to take Hermione's hand for support. "She was given some sedatives to help her sleep that first night, and since then has been bustling around trying to make sure we're all okay. I think she's trying to block out what's happened. Dad has tried to be there for her as much as he can, but mum's been pushing him away slightly and Shacklebolt keeps asking him to help out with reinstating the Ministry. Bill and Charlie are helping the rescue teams in the forest."

"And George?"

"He looks lost." Ron said with a small nod. "He keeps looking to one side, as if he's expecting Fred to be there. He hasn't said a lot, but I think it'll sink in once we have the funeral. Percy is sticking by him. He may have been a grade one git, but before he said all that junk about you the twins were pretty fond of him."

"And Ginny?"

Ron glanced at Hermione. "She was pretty shook up when she saw you… well, you know." he said. "We all were, to be honest. It was the one thing we had all dreaded the most, I think. She seemed fine that first night after you had gone to bed, and yesterday whilst you were sleeping, but she kinda lost it when you weren't in the dormitory when we went up this afternoon. Wound herself up into a right state, demanding that everyone should start looking for you straight away. I left her with Luna when Hermione's patronus came through saying she had found you and that you were okay."

"Where is she now?"

Ron shrugged. "I think they went to look out in the grounds. Luna mentioned something about checking near the lake."

Harry nodded, and sat up, leaning forward slightly at Madame Pomfrey's request so that she could start wrapping a support bandage tightly around his chest.

He let his mind wander to thoughts of the girl he had started going out with during his sixth year. It was clear on his birthday, almost a year ago, that she had still had feelings for him. He could remember the kiss she had given him in her bedroom at the Burrow, and how intense it had been as she poured all her feelings into it until they had been disturbed by Ron, who had been concerned that Harry was going to go and break his sister's heart again. Harry had sworn to himself that he would never do that, and had convinced himself that it wasn't safe for him to attempt to be together whilst Voldemort had him on his hit list. But now Voldemort was gone, did they stand a chance?

He had spent the year thinking about her and watching her walk around on the Marauder's map of Hogwarts that had been created by his own father and his friends. A familiar monster roared in his chest when he thought about how much he longed to hold her in his arms again, just like he had down by the lake the in the early summer before Dumbledore had died. But he doubted that she would take him back. He had not even sent her a letter over the past year, in fear that she would be targeted for being close to him, and no doubt, during the tense situation at the school, she would have found solace in the arms of another of the targeted students. Maybe Seamus, or Neville.

He mentally scoffed at his thoughts, wincing as the matron turned her attentions to the burns on his hands. She had made herself a target, even without his help, causing his desire to keep her safe to turn into a moot point. By standing up against Snape's regime at the school with the others had caused her to be punished, finally forcing her and a few others to go into hiding to survive. He thought briefly on how different the last year would have been if she had come with them on their quest. Maybe she would have been safer by his side. At least they could've still been together.

He sighed again, not realizing that Madame Pomfrey had finished her treatment and was now standing next to Hermione and Ron, staring at him with a mixture of amusement and sympathy on her face as his mind wandered through thoughts of the youngest Weasley, oblivious to his friends that were observing how his facial expressions changed. He swore to himself that he would show Ginny that he would still be her friend, forever, no matter who she had chosen to be with over the past year, or whether or not she would ever take him back. He wouldn't blame her for not wanting to go out with him again, and though his heart felt like it belonged to her, he hoped that he would be able to suppress his feelings enough to remain her friend.

A small cough brought him out of his musings, and he looked up to see Ron and Hermione standing there, Ron's arm casually resting around Hermione's back and his hand resting on her hip.

"You alright there, Harry?" he asked.

Harry nodded, taking note of the bandages that covered his hands then reaching for his shirt.

"We were wondering if you wanted to go back up into the common room for the rest of the afternoon?" Hermione said. "I would suggest finding somewhere quiet outside, but there aren't that many functional entrances that people aren't using. You're bound to be seen if we try and smuggle you out…"

"I thought we were going to go downstairs?" he interrupted, standing up and testing how much flexibility he had with the bandage around his chest. The support had certainly eased the pain of his cracked ribs, but turning from side-to-side was awkward and robotic.

"Well, we just figured you wouldn't feel up to it." Ron said. "But if you want to go down, we'll be there with you. If it gets too much you can just let us know and we can make some sort of excuse to let you escape."

Harry thought about the great number of people walking in and out of the main hall, and if what Hermione had suggested was true then no doubt most of them would want to shake his hand and thank him for what he had done. He looked down at his bandaged fingers, and realised that shaking hands was an unlikely option for those that wanted to thank him, at least until they had healed. And who knows how those who had lost a family member would react. Would they be grateful or blame him for taking too long to fulfill the prophecy?

"It's understandable if you don't want to go down, Potter." the matron said, from where she had been sorting supplies in the corner. "There may be a desire to see you, but no one would begrudge you the chance to recover. I'm more than happy for you to use myself as an excuse should you wish to spend the evening with your friends."

Harry looked to his friends. "You'll be there with me, right?"

Hermione rolled her eyes slightly and Ron just nodded. "Always." he said earnestly, then the corner of his mouth quirked up slightly. "Of course, I don't know how well I'm going to be able to share the limelight, Hermione and I have had a good 24hours to get used to all the attention…"

"Well, you're welcome to it." Harry said, walking towards his friends, and making eye contact with them both. "Thank you." he said.

"That's what friends are for." Ron said. "We were supposed to be in this together from the beginning. There may have been a few bumps on the way, but Hermione and I are there for you whenever you need us. Remember that."

Harry nodded, gulping slightly as he realised how much Ron meant the words he spoke. He glanced to the matron, who was standing with what suspiciously looked like tears in her eyes.

"Am I good to go?" Harry asked.

She nodded. "I expect to see you on a regular basis until the bandages can come off for good." She said. "And you are under strict orders to be on light duties only. As long as you don't get up to anything too energetic then I have no reason to keep you here."

"Thank you." Harry said, then joined his friends as they walked out through the office door and into the main ward.


	4. Chapter 3: Hero's Welcome

Chapter 3: _Hero's welcome_

Harry once more found himself leaning over the stone banister to look at the hustle and bustle below. The afternoon was getting late, though the sun was still shining brightly through the damaged front doors and illuminating the high number of people who were still working hard to repair the damaged castle.

"You having second thoughts?" Hermione asked gently from behind him.

He looked back to where his friends were standing on the stair above him. "If you like, you can go back upstairs," Ron suggested. "I'll run around to get people I know you wouldn't mind seeing. Maybe it would be better to start off with the people who know you best before leaping into the public?"

Harry's gut clenched with fear at the thought of seeing the rest of the Weasley's, especially Ginny. He supposed it wouldn't be so bad seeing his friends from school, he owed them a full explanation, especially Neville who had stepped up with all the Gryffindor bravery that the hat must've seen in him during the first year sorting to kill Voldemort's snake when everyone else had been paralyzed with shock over Harry's apparent death.

Harry shook his head, standing up straight and pulling his shoulders back as far has his bandages ribs would let him. "No," he said. "I think I want to get this over with as soon as possible. If I don't do it now, I don't think I ever will."

"There's the Gryffindor everyone knows and loves!" Ron said, placing a firm hand on Harry shoulder and following his friend down a step.

"Not really." Harry said. "Did I ever tell you that the hat wanted to put me in Slytherin? Whether it was because it could sense the Horcrux in me, I don't know, but this is definitely a selfish Slytherin feeling. If I get this out the way now, I have the excuse to hide away for the next couple of years without anyone bothering me."

"You really think all them lot down there will let you disappear?" Ron asked skeptically.

Harry rolled his eyes. Ron was right. Dumbledore had held a very public place for the rest of his life once he had defeated Grindelwald, and there was nothing to indicate that this life was going to give Harry the chance to do anything different.

"Let's go." he said, squaring his shoulders and taking another step down the stairs.

With his friends half a step behind and flanking either shoulder, he made his way down the final set of stairs, coming into sight of the people below as they walked to and fro on their business. He steeled himself for the first person to spot him, and nervously wetted his lips as his eyes darted around the room, waiting for one pair of eyes to make contact with him and raise the call that would send the room into what Hermione and Ron had described as "Harry-mania".

Even though he was feeling as nervous as a lamped rabbit, it was a friendly face that eventually spotted him. Harry's nervousness and heightened senses felt the gaze coming from the left, and turned to see Neville standing near the hall doors. Though Harry had seen him before the final battle, there was something different about the once withdrawn and introverted Gryffindor. The boy stood taller than Harry remembered, his shoulders pulled back and no longer hunched over as they had been during their first few years together. But the biggest difference that Harry could see was with the expression on his face. Though Harry had seen the beginnings of someone great during the DA meetings and when Neville had stood by his side during the Ministry episode, Neville's face was now of one filled with confidence. It was of a boy who had finally grown into himself, who had discovered who he really was. A boy who had led the campaign to defend the school and her students when there was no one else able to do so. It left Harry no doubt that, if Voldemort had gone after Neville instead of himself that Halloween many years before, the Longbottom boy would have risen to the challenge without a second thought, much like Harry had done.

Harry smiled at his friend across the room with this realization, and a look of understanding passed between the two. What this understanding was of, Harry couldn't place as Neville was surely still unaware of how close he had come to being the subject of the prophecy, but Harry knew that there would be a bond between them that would never need to be tested or tried.

Neville suddenly grinned and gave a nod in return as he felt the same connection Harry had, and then raised his hands to start clapping.

Many people turned away from the trio standing on the stairs, trying to locate the sound of the noise that seemed to carry over the general clamor of people trying to repair the hall. One by one, they followed Neville's gaze to where Harry was standing and the applause began to spread like a heatless fire across the room.

More people began to come inside, some running and pushing against the others as they realized what, or rather who, the clapping was for. The entrance hall soon filled up, and when Harry looked up he could see other faces looking down at him from the balcony's above, also applauding enthusiastically for their hero.

More than one face was soaked with tears and people waved their hands to wave as Harry cast his eyes over them. But strangely, not one of them spoke.

Harry was disconcerted by the strange, voiceless accolade he was receiving and turned his head over his right shoulder to look at Hermione, her own eyes filled with tears as he silently asked what he should do now.

In response he felt her hand push against his shoulder, causing him to go down a step. He turned back to the front and made his way down the final stairs, still with Ron's and Hermione's hands on his shoulders.

"I don't know, 'Mione." Ron muttered as they finally stepped onto the ground floor and into a little space that had been made for them. "I think our welcome was bigger yesterday."

His comment made Harry grin at him and suddenly the crowd pushed towards them, using Harry's expression change as an invite to come forward.

The next thirty minutes or so were a blur, of people wanting to shake his hands, and resulting in trying to hug him or slapping his back when they realized they couldn't. Through the general haze of tears and laughter and relieved faces, Harry's friends never left his side. They stood next to him, making sure that no one became too emotional or physical with their injured friend, at the same time being able to cope with their own queue of thankful wizards and witches trying to express how they felt.

He sensed more than directly acknowledged that several others of his closest friends had joined Ron and Hermione, increasing the strength of their little protection ring around him. He saw Neville briefly to his left, receiving his own share of acknowledgement before someone else stepped in front of Harry and blocked his view. To his right he thought he saw the white-blonde hair of Luna, and the bushy brunette of Susan Bonas. In his subconscious he realized that Dean had been right, the DA would be there for him whenever he needed them.

Everything suddenly changed when he saw a face emerge from the crowd in front of him. A face that he had seen earlier but hadn't had the strength or courage to make contact with. To the monster in his chest that pounded against his injured ribs to be released, Ginny was the most beautiful girl he could imagine, even with her pale face covered with bruises and dirt from the work she had been doing outside.

He did not dare to breathe as the world around him seemed to stop. Many people seemed to sense the change in their hero, and stepped back to give him some space. Though these movements were meant in respect, even if the relationship between him and the girl in front of him was not entirely understood, all they succeeded in doing was opening up the space between them which was something Harry didn't feel ready for.

He felt a squeeze on his right shoulder from Hermione, who finally let go, leaving Harry to stand for himself before the girl that he had thought about every day since he had left the previous year.

He watched as the youngest Weasley took a step forward, her eyes filled with something Harry wanted to label as hope, before she shook her head, her eyes filling with tears as she span on the spot, causing her hair to fly out in a red curtain before she pushed herself back into the crowd and was lost to sight.

Harry started after her, but was held back by Ron, who shook his head slightly and muttered. "Leave her be, Harry." Harry looked to his friend, trying to work out if this was for the same reason he stormed in on him and Ginny on his birthday the year before. "I don't think either of you are ready quite yet." Ron added in response to Harry's unspoken question.

Harry glanced at Hermione, who nodded in agreement with her boyfriend's words and looked back to the small gap in the crowd where Ginny had disappeared. What had he expected? For her to jump into his arms, welcoming the injured hero home and showing him how much she had missed him? Harry briefly though of the logistics, that his broken ribs would have unlikely been able to support the attack if she had run and grabbed him the way they did in the movies, though he didn't suppose he would've minded the pain. On a more practical note, he reminded himself that she was unlikely to want to come near him after he had pushed her away, not spoken with her properly for almost a year, and on top of that she had lost a brother in a battle where he almost died.

_Did die_.

His head was beginning to spin with all the emotions and memories of the past few days. And with the response from Ginny and the endless sea of faces surrounding him, he began to feel decidedly sick.

He turned to Ron, who immediately caught the paling features and shortened gasps of his friend.

He sent Hermione a look as he took Harry's elbow and started pulling him towards the nearest corridor. Almost as if following a direct order, Harry's friends from the DA seemed to get in the way of the crowd following him, and within moments Harry found himself sitting on the floor of the nearest gent's toilets, his head between his knees and Hermione's hand gently rubbing circles between his shoulder blades as the world continued to spin.

A hand with a glass of water appeared within sight, and he reached out with shaky hands to take the offering and sip from it, giving the task up as a lost cause as he nearly spilt most of it on his lap.

Hermione gently took the glass away from him and bent to look in his eyes.

"Feeling a little better?" she asked.

Harry took stock of his senses and nodded. "A little," he said. He looked up to see Neville walk up to Ron and mutter something in his ear. Ron turned and whispered something in return and Neville nodded before looking back at Harry.

"You're still looking a little pale," he said with concern when he saw Harry looking up at him.

Harry nodded. "I think I must've passed out or something." he said, trying to recall the entrance into the toilet room.

"You only blacked out momentarily as you came through the door." Hermione said. "Ron and Neville were there to help. How's your chest? Though they did catch you it was a little awkward getting you to the floor."

Harry nodded. "It's fine." he said to his friends who stood above him. "Thanks."

"Anytime." Neville said, then the characteristic Longbottom blush appeared that Harry remembered from before. "Well, hopefully not anytime, but I think you know what I mean."

Harry nodded. "I do. And I mean it, thanks. I don't know what came over me."

"I think you've been through a lot and facing all those people just topped it off." Hermione said reassuringly. "You have several cracked ribs, and have only just woken up after 36 hours sleep. You can't expect to be able to cope with everything just yet, Harry." she said.

Harry nodded, but he could feel something in his chest curl up and shrink away as he remembered the distressed look on Ginny's face before she had run away.

"I think I'm going to be sick." he said, lurching to his knees and staggering into a cubicle, pushing the door closed behind him before the three bites of sandwich he had managed to swallow earlier returned in a very violent manner.

He coughed and gagged a few more times, wincing at the sharp pains the vomiting caused in his chest before falling back and leaning against the wall, staring up unseeingly at the names and words that had been inscribed over the years.

"Would you like me to get Madame Pomfrey, Harry?" he heard Hermione's voice said attentively through the cubicle door.

"No." he said, not moving other than to swing his head round to answer her. "I'll be okay."

He heard a couple of whispered exchanges between his friends before he heard the toilet door gently open and close. Moments later, the door to the cubicle was gently pushed open, and Hermione squeezed her way in, closing the door and waving her wand around in a silencing charm before sliding down into a sitting position opposite Harry.

"That's probably not the best of places to sit." he observed dryly and Hermione shrugged.

"After all we've done, I'm not particularly worried about sitting on a toilet floor." Hermione said. "However, I am worried about you. Is this all because of Ginny?"

Harry glanced to the door, where he was sure Ron was still standing.

"You saw me cast the charm, Harry. What you say here will stay between us, I promise."

Harry resisted the urge to throw up again as he once more saw the look on her face as she ran away. "I've missed her so much." he said. "I wasn't expecting her to come back to me straight away, in fact I'm fully prepared for her to tell me shove it… but I was hoping for something more than… that."

"She missed you too, Harry. And though she hasn't said it direct, her response when you went missing this afternoon proved it. But you have to understand that she lost her brother a few days ago. And, according to Neville, she slipped into a right depression when we disappeared during the wedding, and it wasn't until things started going wrong here that she found something to focus on other than missing you. I've seen you pouring over that map every time you thought yourself to be alone in the tent, Harry, and it isn't rocket science to know who you were looking for. But think, if she were missing you as much as you missed her, can you imagine what it was like to see you, lying as if you were dead in Hagrid's arms? A part of each of us died that night when we saw you like that, Harry. We…"

Hermione broke off, her voice catching as she swiped at the tears that fell down her face. "You have to give her time, Harry. She will come back to you. As a friend if nothing else. Of that I promise."

Harry nodded, feeling tears fall down his own face. "I know." he said. "I just… I need…" his stomach rebelled again, but the feeling had passed by the time he had made it to the toilet bowl. It was several moments before he felt himself stable enough to be able to speak again.

"The time I spent with her, before Dumbledore died, that was the happiest I think I've ever been. And when I walked into the woods, I had my parents there, with Sirius and Remus, thanks to the ring, but they disappeared when I took it off. But I could sense her. And you and Ron. Even though I couldn't see you, I knew you were all there. My last thought was of her and I knew that I would do anything for any one of you."

"That's how the sacrifice worked." Hermione said, tears falling over her smile.

Harry nodded. "I guess it was the same for my mother." he said. "But why did it take until then to realize how much you all meant to me?" he asked. "Why did I push you away, and argue and not listen when I knew you were all talking sense? I don't deserve to be here, Hermione. I really don't. And I don't feel like I belong anymore. Does that make any sense?"

"Don't talk silly, Harry. And I don't want you getting any stupid ideas, okay? You may not feel like you should be here, but that doesn't mean you should throw away this chance you have. With Ginny you have to give it time, and whilst you do that, Ron and I will be here to make sure you stay on track. Wait until after the funerals and then speak with her. You can't think everything is a loss until everyone has become accustomed to the changes that have happened."

Harry sat silent for a while, staring blankly into space as he thought through his anguish.

"What are you going to do now?" he finally asked.

Hermione blinked once at the change of subject, then shrugged. "I'm going to fly out to Australia and find my parents as soon as I'm able." she said. "It's going to be tricky reversing the charm I put on them, I put my full strength behind it in order to keep them safe. Of course, I'm going to have to need to find them first, which isn't going to be easy. And once I find them and reverse the charm… they deserve a full explanation, and like you I'm not sure whether I'm going to be accepted. I'll always be their daughter, and they might understand after some time, especially if I show them what happened here, but…" She sighed, and Harry reached out, entwining his fingers with her own.

"Would you do me a favour, Hermione?" he asked.

His friend looked up at him in surprise, then nodded. "Anything." she said.

"You haven't heard what I'm going to ask you yet." Harry warned.

"There are very few things that you could ask for that I'd have to say "no" to, Harry." she said.

Harry nodded. "Let me buy the tickets out to Australia, and let me come with you? You've done so much for me and none of it could have been easy on you, especially sending your parents away. It's the least I could do to show how much that means."

Hermione looked deep into his eyes. "And getting out of the country hasn't anything to do with it?" she asked. "Australia is about as far from this place as you can get without travelling to the moon."

"So what if that is the case? Please, Hermione, let me come? I have to get out of this place for a while, and if not with you then I'll just disappear and no one will know where I am."

Hermione looked momentarily alarmed, before she realized how caged Harry was feeling.

"I'll be a good boy, and do the whole public thing for as long as is needed." Harry said. "I'll show my face at the memorial service, and I'll go to the funerals of those I know. But I can only do that if I know I can get away for a while, Hermione. I need to sort myself out if I'm to keep going."

Hermione nodded. "In which case I accept," she said. "With thanks. You will be most welcome to join me on my quest. Just as I joined you on yours."

She pushed herself to her feet, reaching over and pulling the flush before reaching down to offer Harry her hand. "Neville should be back with your cloak by now." she said. "I think we ought to get you back to the common room for a while. Get you something proper to eat, and some rest, before we attempt anything public again."

Harry nodded, clutching her wrist firmly as he struggled to his feet in the cramped area.

They pushed their way out, and when Ron saw them he came over, taking in both of their red eyes, he reached out to his girlfriend, pulling her into his embrace, before reaching out and snagging a surprised Harry with the crook of his arm. "You know I would've been in there too, if there had been room." he said to them both.

Harry pulled back slightly. "I've just been throwing up. It was probably best that you stayed out." he said.

Ron shrugged. "I've done detentions shoveling hippogriff dung with Hagrid," he said. "What's a little vomit between friends?"

Harry just shook his head in amazement and even though his feeling of self-worth was at an all-time low, he couldn't deny that he had the best friends in the world.


	5. Chapter 4: The Next Step

_Wow, I'm so impressed with the response I've been getting! Not so much on the reviews, but on the "story alerts" and "favourite story" lists... and i'm only 5 uploads in! A big thank you and I hope I don't disappoint!_

_Thanks to those who took the time to review and point out the odd mistake. Please feel free to point out if i'm putting places/people where they shouldn't be! I've read so many fanfic over the years that facts and figures are becoming just a blur... I will endeavour to change the errors as soon as possible.  
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_Enjoy..._

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><p>Chapter 4 <em>the next step<em>

Harry awoke the next morning feeling like he had drunk too much fire whiskey the night before, even though he hadn't touched a single drop of alcohol. His head was sluggish and slow and he had a strange taste in his mouth that he related back to the Dreamless Sleep potion Hermione had insisted he take before he went to bed.

The previous evening had been spent in the comfort of the Gryffindor common room, with intermittent visits from his friends and honorary family members. He hadn't seen Ginny again; the only red-haired visitors he had received were Bill and Charlie, both of whom expressed how grateful they were he was still alive, and giving him some moral encouragement before leaving, stating they had to go to help their mother with George who hadn't eaten or slept since the battle.

McGonagall had also attended for a brief time, hugging Harry forcibly with tear-filled eyes before asking him if he would agree to sit down with a small group of people to explain what happened in its entirety the following day. Harry had agreed, on the basis that the DA and those close to him could come if they wanted, so that he wouldn't have to explain himself more than once. The next hour was spent organizing and sending people out of the tower with invites for what was rapidly becoming a large audience for Harry's recount of the events.

With a groan, Harry pushed himself over onto his back and lifted himself onto his elbows in order to obtain a better view of the room. This time he saw that his roommates were still in the room, sleeping peacefully in the bright and fresh early morning sunlight.

In the bed next to him Ron slept on his back, his snores surprisingly quieter than their usual standard, though Harry supposed this was due to the brunette that was snuggled firmly into his side on the small cot bed. He felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth as he watched them sleep, happy that the two of them had finally overcome their differences enough to realize that they were made for each other.

Across the room, Harry could see the lump of Neville asleep in his bed. He could also see the sword of Gryffindor resting proudly up against the wall next to his trunk, a visible reminder that the inner-Gryffindor that had been fighting to break free since the start of Hogwarts so many years before had shown itself at the most opportune moment. Harry briefly wondered whether or not the Sorting Hat had some way of predicting the future in order to correctly place students, and concluded that he now had a life time to find the chance to put Gryffindor's old hat on in order to find out the answer.

He leant over and rummaged in the bedside cabinet for a scrap of parchment and a quill. There wasn't much in the drawers due to his non-attendance over the past year, but he was able to find a sheet of what seemed to be part of a third year charms essay and an old stubby quill. He turned over on his mattress and sucked on the end of the feather. Hermione had been right when she had told him to take each step at a time, and he was all for the decision to write out all the steps he needed to take to tie up as many lose ends over the next couple of days in order to allow himself a long time to get away without and pressures or worries forcing him to return.

He idly doodled in the top corner of the parchment before writing the first entry on his "to-do" list: Funerals.

He sighed, trying hard not to dwell too much on the number of send-offs he would need to be attending over the next few days. Fred would probably be the first. Remus and Tonks would probably be buried together, maybe even the Black family plot if Tonk's mother Andromeda would allow it. And if there was a Black family plot then Harry wanted to see if he could also add a headstone for Sirius. He jotted this down next to the first heading so that he wouldn't forget. He also made the note that he should speak to Tonk's mum and visit his godson. He had not yet seen the son of Remus Lupin, and even though he didn't know what would be required of a messed up seventeen year old boy who was trying to sort his own life out, he did know that he wanted to be an active part in the child's life as the link to his father and his friends.

He sighed deeply, jotting down the names of the few others he had seen in the room of the great hall before the final battle, meaning to find out whether he would be able to go to their funerals as well. In a way it was his fault that so many of the DA had gotten themselves injured or killed, if he hadn't agreed to run that defence group then, more than likely, the DA would've evacuated the school with the rest of the students. He paused on that thought, wondering if the fact that they had stayed had helped the battle in any way. No doubt the bravest of them would've decided to stay no matter what, and probably have been in less of a position to be able to protect themselves. He sucked in a breath and mentally told himself to stop blaming himself, his conscience sounding a lot like Hermione as he put the quill to the parchment again.

He left a gap for any names he had forgotten or wasn't aware of, before writing "Australia plans". He jotted a few basic pointers, such as tickets, passports and currency, before submitting to the fact that Hermione would be better suited to packing and planning for that particular trip. He did highlight the "currency" pointer several times, frowning as he remembered that all his inheritance was still in Gringott's in the company of the goblins who were unlikely to allow Harry into the bank ever again.

On that shocker of a thought, Harry pushed himself up from the bed, stretching out his tight muscles as he pulled on the clothes from the day before and wondered where he would find the only person who would be able to help him with this particular hurdle.

His problem was easily answered as he found Bill Weasley, ex-employee of Gringott's treasure collectors sitting on a sofa in the Gryffindor common room, sipping on a still steaming cup of strong coffee.

His scarred face looked up in surprise as Harry descended the stone staircase into view. "I didn't expect you up for some hours." Bill said, as he greeted the dark-haired youth. "Hermione said she had forced some Dreamless Sleep into you last night."

Harry nodded. "I guess a person can only sleep so much." he said, taking a seat opposite Bill, taking the offered cup and pouring himself a tea from the pot in the middle of the table. "How is everyone?"

Bill nodded, his face somber. "As well as can be expected." he said. "Fleur has gone back home for a bit of sleep, she's been helping Madame Pomfrey out pretty much since the battle. Mum and Percy are with George in a private room the floor above the Great Hall, and Dad and Charlie have gone back to the Burrow to make sure it's still in one piece. Providing it is then we'll be moving everyone back there later this evening. I offered to hang around here to make sure Ron, Hermione and yourself make sure you get everything packed and ready to leave."

Harry nodded. "I haven't really got anything to unpack." he said. "Anything I didn't think I needed this year I left back at the Dursley's. Hermione has everything else in that crazy little bag of hers."

Bill nodded, placing his cup onto the table and pushing himself up by the knees. "Can you let Ron know about the move, then?" he asked. "I agreed to help Flitwick set up a couple of basic wards around the school before I went. Seems the battle has completely cleaned them out."

"Um, actually, there was something I wanted to ask you." Harry said, causing Bill to raise an eyebrow on the scarless side of his face. "About the agreement I made with Griphook?"

Bill frowned, sitting back down on the sofa and leaning forward in concern. "What did you agree to?" he asked, no accusation in his voice, though it did hold an element of foreboding.

"Gryffindor's sword." Harry said. "Griphook stated it was goblin made, hence he was able to tell that the one Lestrange had was fake. I promised him the sword in return for helping us get into the Gringotts bank, and in particular into one of the vaults. He took it as soon as… well, he took it after he had completed his part of the bargain and disappeared with it, leaving us no choice but defend ourselves and our only means of escape was on the back of the dragon. But Neville has now got the sword and we made a mess of the bank, and I'm a bit concerned that they may hold that against me. Or even worse, as Ron was involved, your family."

Bill nodded, understanding Harry's concern. "The sword will have to be returned." he said after several long moments of thinking. "Goblins have a very warped sense of ownership. As I told you before anything made by a goblin remains in the ownership of a goblin, in particular that of the family which originally made it, no matter how many times it changes hands. That has been the basis for many a rebellion over the centuries. There must have been some sort of enchantment placed on the blade during the casting for it to be called up by yourself and Neville during times of need. Maybe it's linked to the sorting hat, I don't know, but I don't think we should share that idea with the goblins, they would probably try to lay claim to the old rag as well. However, if we hand it back at the next opportunity with a promise from the Minister that it will always be returned to Gringotts for safe keeping, no matter how many times it "re-appears" in a Gryffindor's hands, it might be enough to stop another war breaking out between goblins and wizards."

"And our money?"

"They will want compensation." Bill said with a definite nod. "Money for the damage, and to replace the dragon. They may be good at looking after their treasures, but they know they are no match for the magic we have should the full force of wizards choose to go against them, and lucky for us, most of the wizarding community would probably be on your side should they wish to oppose you. This will hopefully mean that, once debts are paid, they will allow access as per normal. I doubt they will demand anything other than what is owed them, but as it was a goblin that helped you to break in, then maybe we can turn it into something that portrays them in a good light. No doubt at the moment they will argue Griphook was coerced, but if we thank them for their assistance and contribution then maybe that will help to smooth over a few rough edges. They knew the risks of Voldemort coming to power as much as any other magical folk. They owe you as much as we do."

Harry nodded. "You think you can help me talk with them when the time comes?" he asked. "I haven't really had that much to do with goblins, and I don't want to make any stupid mistakes."

Bill smiled slightly. "Not a problem, Harry." he said. "I think Kingsley might be a better choice though. Having the two most influential wizards in a conference with them might make them think twice about any tricks."

"You really think Kingsley will help?" Harry asked doubtfully. "I mean, he's probably going to be really busy."

Bill snorted slightly. "Harry, I think if you asked him to tie your shoelaces, then he would." then added at Harry's response. "Well, maybe not that, but you know what I mean. You're up for a Order of Merlin, First Class for what you've done, Harry. And with that comes pretty much anything you want."

"I just want to be me." Harry said quietly. "I've spent so long being someone else, it'll be nice to have the chance to work out who I actually am."

Bill fell silent at the passion in Harry's voice. "I bet you do." he said finally, pushing himself once more to his feet. "The beginning of the meeting has been arranged for midday." he said. "After your input, McGonagall and Kingsley were planning on going over some ideas for the immediate future, as well as organising the memorial for the end of the week. Mum and dad are hoping to take everyone back to the Burrow at some point afterwards, you and Hermione included." he glanced at the clock above the grand hearth and noted the time. "I think you ought to work on waking sleeping beauties to make sure they aren't late."

Harry glanced up to see it was just coming up to eleven o'clock and nodded. "I'll see you in a hour." he said as Bill walked out of the common room, receiving a wave in response.

Harry looked down at the list in his hands and added the visit to the bank on it. He also added a note to find out what amount of money he actually had to his name. He had no doubt that he would be able to afford the trip to Australia for himself and his friends, but he realised it would be prudent of him to know how much money he had in order to not suddenly run out and become more of a thorn in the Goblin's side.

He sighed, lifting his head to look into the unlit fire of the common room, thinking for anything else that he might have forgotten, before folding the parchment and tucking it into one of the pockets. He glanced at the time again and stood, making his way to the stairs in order to wake his friends in time for the meeting.

It took only a touch to Hermione's shoulder to have her shooting into an upright position, her eyes wide and sending Ron's arm flopping heavily into the wooden bed side as it fell from around her shoulders.

"Sorry," Harry said apologetically, as her eyes searched his for the reason for such a sudden awakening. "Bill was downstairs, says that the meeting starts in less than an hour, and we'll be leaving for the Burrow later today. I figured you might want to wash up a little beforehand."

Hermione's concerned eyes softened and nodded once before turning to her side to prod Ron awake, her sudden movement having done nothing other than cause him to sigh heavily in his sleep.

Harry left his best friends' bed to go across the room to gently nudge Neville awake. He awoke without fuss and Harry decided to wait downstairs to collect his thoughts whilst they got themselves washed and changed. Before the half hour was up the three of them were headed out the common room towards the head's office.

The foursome walked in silence, each lost in their own thoughts but taking strength from each other's company, trying to ignore the occasional dark stain on the floor and the damage to portraits, windows and walls. Neville and Harry led the way with Hermione and Ron walking hand-in-hand behind them. Harry had noticed that Neville had brought along Gryffindor's sword, and had strapped the sheath to his belt with the sword lying comfortably along his left side. Harry presumed that it was because he didn't want to leave such a valuable item unattended, especially now it's worth had increased exponentially due to the part it had played in the defeat of Voldemort. He knew he would have to talk to him about returning it to the goblins, but supposed that would come up in the meeting they were about to have.

All too soon they were stood at the lop-sided statue of the stone gargoyle and were able to walk by without the need for a password.

"I guess that until a proper head of school has been elected it won't need one." Hermione said as they started climbing the stairs.

"I thought it would fall to the deputy-head." Ron stated. "Wouldn't McGonagall have been able to set a password without a head-master?"

"It all went a bit out-of-sync last year." Neville said. "She was still in the deputy position, but had even less sway than a prefect due to Snape being in charge and the Carrows being in charge of punishments. Most of us expected her to disappear without a trace over the course of this last term, what with all the grief she took on behalf of us students that just wouldn't sit quiet. But every morning she would be there in the Great Hall, sitting tall and straight with her hair tied back with a permanent fixing charm and giving us the strength to get through another day."

"Did she know you were all staying in the school?" Hermione asked.

Neville shook his head. "I think she suspected but no. Probably for the best I think." he said as they neared the door. "I'll go through it all with you later maybe, but as well as laying low we did spend a lot of time keeping an eye out for her and a couple of others we were concerned about. I know there probably wouldn't have been much we could've done, but I'd have hated to see her… you know, killed or something, without having tried."

Harry heaved a sigh as they neared the solid oak door of the office. It felt like a year had passed since he had walked up the stairs clutching the vial of Snape's memories, and without the driving need to speak with Dumbledore's portrait as he had had on his last visit, Harry was loathe to want to enter the office again.

"You gonna be okay?" Ron said softly, noting Harry's hesitation.

Harry sucked in a deep breath, filling his chest with a strong essence of Gryffindor bravery, and wishing with a heartfelt ache that his parents were walking alongside him once again.

"Let's get it over with." he said, pushing at the door with one bandaged hand.

It fell open without any resistance, and he walked in to see the room had been filled with chairs facing the raised platform where the headmaster's desk had stood. The large writing desk had been pushed flush against the wall underneath Dumbledore's portrait, and several empty but comfortable looking chairs had been lined up in front of it, facing the sea of faces sitting in the chairs below.

Harry scanned over the crowd, recognising the remaining members of the DA sitting in a group near the window, several members of the Order of the Phoenix and Aurors lining the chairs near the rear of the room and the group of his family and teachers nearest the front of the room. There were many adults in the room that he did not know, including a couple of people sat to one side, with a small desk set between them and a pile of parchment. He presumed them to be members of the Daily Prophet, eagerly awaiting the tale of what Harry and his friends had been up to the last year, and about the events leading up to the final battle.

His eyes moved back to the portrait of Dumbledore, who sat on the wall high above them, looking down at him with an indulgent smile. He gestured to the chairs in front of him, and Harry knew by his look that he was sympathetic to Harry's dislike of being the center of attention.

Harry dropped his gaze to McGonagall as she came out of a separate door to the right of the desk, accompanied by the newest Minister of Magic. The older witch that had been Harry's head of house since he had started Hogwarts gestured for him to join them at the front of the room, and with a gentle nudge from Hermione he placed one foot mechanically in front of the other, greatly aware of all the eyes on him. He took a seat as Hermione started pulling the Horcruxes out of her bag, placing them in a line along the headmaster's heavy oak desk. Once she had finished, Neville unstrapped Gryffindor's sword and gently laid it lengthways in front of them before leaving their side to sit with the other DA members across the room. As Harry followed his path, he noticed two red-heads that appeared to be the only two people in the room that hadn't monitored his every move since entering.

As McGonagall started to explain about the structure of the meeting, Harry watched Ginny sit staring resolutely at her hands, refusing to look up from her position next to her oldest brother, even though she seemed aware of Harry's gaze from the way she was nervously picking a partially healed wound on the back of one of her hands. The other red-head was George, who looked up when he felt Harry's eyes move onto him. The look in his eyes caused Harry to catch his breath, the haunted darkness inside them focused only on him. He had come only to hear Harry's story, to find the reason for why his brother had died.

"Harry?"

Harry turned his head to Hermione who was sitting next to him, his hand sitting between both of hers. "You ready?" she asked softly.

Harry looked up to McGonagall who was standing, looking to him expectantly.

"Do you want me to stand?" he asked, glancing around the room and felt the fear of their judgment cause his legs to feel weaker than if they had been hit by a jelly-legs curse.

"Whatever is most comfortable to you, Harry." she replied gently, taking a seat on the other side of Kingsley who sat on the other side of Ron.

Harry nodded, trying to draw his thoughts together enough to start.

"I'm not going to go through everything that happened." He started, with a small nod to himself that he could do this. "But I will explain where we've been for the past year, and the reasons why…" his breath caught a little, and he felt the room's shock as he seemed unable to say Voldemort's name. "… Tom was able to be defeated.

"In the year before Dumbledore died he taught me about a young boy, an orphan, not all that different from myself. He taught me about his childhood, about what motivated him, but mostly about his need to be the most powerful wizard to have ever lived, and with that, the steps he took towards invincibility.

"During school this boy had discovered reference to a Horcrux, an item which can store a part of your soul and, providing that item is never destroyed, can be a link to life should your body be killed. But in order to create a Horcrux, the soul has to be split and captured, and that only occurs in the instant a wizard kills another."

Harry glanced to where Professor Slughorn was sitting, his head bowed with guilt and shame. "He managed to create his first Horcrux before he left Hogwarts. He had returned to the home of his father in Little Hangleton, and killed his muggle father and grandparents, placing part of his soul in a diary that took its strength from the emotions of the person writing in it. When Voldemort was defeated that night when my parents died, the diary was hidden away for some time, until my second year when it had found its way back to Hogwarts and came close to returning Tom Riddle back to his physical form."

He looked down at Ginny, hoping that she would look up to him when she realized he was deliberately leaving her name of the story, but she remained sat, head down, with her brother's arm sitting supportively around her shoulders.

"Without really knowing what I was doing, I managed to destroy the image of Tom Riddle by stabbing the diary with the fang of the basilisk that had resided in the Chamber of Secrets for fifty years.

"When I handed that diary to Dumbledore, he seemed to know that there was something… unusual about the it, but it wasn't until last year that he had told me his suspicions, and that we had been able to discover and confirm that Voldemort, as he became known as soon after he left school, had decided not to just create the one Horcrux, but six, thinking of the power in numbers and going further than anyone ever had to ensure an eternal life by splitting his soul into seven different pieces."

He paused slightly and sensed movement as Hermione handed him a glass of water to sip from. The room murmured between themselves for a short time, but instead of waiting for them to stop Harry continued.

"Professor Dumbledore had been searching himself for possible Horcruxes, and discovered a ring in the run-down home of Tom's magical mother, a direct descendant of Slytherin. It was that cursed ring that caused the damage to his arm, but at the time he hadn't thought of it as a Horcrux, holding a segment of evil within it, but rather something else, something more fantastic that I will explain about in a bit. Needless to say, he put the ring on.

"The damage to Horcrux caused to his arm was fatal." Harry said, sensing more shock within the room, but could feel the presence of the portrait's gaze on the back of his neck as he continued to speak. "Dumbledore was slowly dying. Old age and the curse from the ring was proving too much and, upon the discovery that there were still so many Horcruxes to find and destroy, he put plans into place to ensure that Voldemort's defeat could be achieved.

"The night he died he had taken me on a mission to recover a third Horcrux. The trip had left him weak, and upon our return to Hogwarts Draco Malfoy had let several other Death Eaters into the castle. I'm not going to go into details as there are only two things that you have to know about that night. One is that, even though Severus Snape cast the Avada Kedavra, it was because Dumbledore had made him promise to do so. Snape was the only one that knew that the headmaster was dying, and Dumbledore made him promise that if his death could assist me in the search and defeat of the Horcruxes, then that is what needed to be done. The second thing you need to remember is that Draco Malfoy had disarmed the headmaster before Snape had arrived, and thus, if you should believe the history of wand-lore, had become the rightful owner of Dumbledore's wand.

"From that point on, I knew that I had to hunt down the rest of the Horcruxes alone." Harry hesitated slightly, and looked to his friends, "Well, not exactly alone…"

Hermione leaned forward and muttered, "Do you want me to take over for a bit?" she asked.

Harry looked at her, and shrugged with a small nod.

Hermione went on to explain about their search, about the discovery that the necklace that had led to Dumbledore's death had been replaced with a fake, the hunt and discovery of the real necklace and briefly described the problems they had whilst wearing it.

She briefly mentioned how Ron's return to the group had allowed the necklace to have been destroyed, and how they had worked out from the Dumbledore's memories that the remaining Horcruxes were likely to be the Hufflepuff chalice, Voldemort's snake due to her elongated life and, through the line of logical thought, an item that had been owned by another founder of the school, most likely Ravenclaw due to the resentment felt against Gryffindor.

"Things began to speed up from then." Harry said, taking over from Hermione with a low voice. "Through the link I had with him in my scar, I had begun to get images from Voldemort. He was becoming frantic in his search for something that would destroy me, something that he believed would give him unimaginable power. Through this link I had glimpses of him travelling to Europe, searching out wand-makers, kidnapping and torturing Ollivander, finally coming to conclusion that the thing he was looking for, the one thing that he thought could destroy me, had been buried in Dumbledore's tomb with him when he died.

"He was looking, of course, for the Elder Wand. Known by many names throughout the ages since it was created, it is best known in the story of the Deathly Hallows, the wizarding fairy tale that every child raised in a magical family had heard of, and a copy of which Dumbledore had given to Hermione when he had died in the hope that one of us would grasp the significance the story held.

"In the story the Elder Wand was owned by one brother, and the other brothers owned a magical cloak from which he could supposedly hide from death, and a ring that could bring back the dead. It was a story that I think Dumbledore had been fascinated with throughout his life and he had spent a long time searching for these treasures, eventually winning the Elder Wand during his battle with Grindelwald.

"The cloak he discovered by accident, finding out that cloak had indeed been passed from father to son, from Ignotus Preverell all the way through the generations until my father had bequeathed it to me. And, similarly, Dumbledore literally stumbled across the ring that could control death in a ramshackle old shack in Little Hangleton during his search for a Horcrux. Riddle was probably unaware of what he had actually held his possession, and how ironic it was that he was using a ring that could bring back the dead for his own immortality.

"I didn't understand why at the time, but I knew Voldemort was heading to Hogwarts, breaking into Dumbledore's tomb and taking the wand. I wanted so much to stop him, but I had made a promise to Dumbledore. I was to find the Horcruxes, and the Hallows had to wait. Besides, it would've been too late for me to get to the school to stop him.

"At that point, events led us to making a deal with a goblin that had worked at Gringotts. With his help we were able to break into the bank and gain access to the Black family vault where Voldemort had entrusted Bellatrix Lestrange to hold and protect the Hufflepuff cup, the fourth Horcrux. The escape was more luck than anything as it wasn't long before we were discovered. We escaped on the back of a dragon, and made our way straight to the school to search for the second to last Horcrux that we strongly believed he had hidden in the school when he had applied for DADA teacher.

"We got into the school with thanks to Dumbledore's brother and by using the secret passageway that the some of the students had been using for most of the year. I managed to find the final Horcrux, Ravenclaw's diadem, in the Room of Requirement, where it was then destroyed by Fiendfyre cast by Crabbe. Ron and Hermione had been able to destroy the Horcrux in the cup by breaking into the Chamber of Secrets again and using more of the Basilisk venom from the carcass that had been left there.

"That left one Horcrux, Voldemort's snake Nagini, or so we thought."

Harry took a deep breath and another sip of water before plunging on into the hardest part of the story to tell.

"We had to find out where Riddle was hiding, so I entered his mind to find out he was in the Shrieking Shack. When we arrived there, he had put protection spells around his beloved snake, and then killed Snape.

"He left Snape dying in the shack, and I sat with him as he died. He left me several memories that I looked at in Dumbledore's Pensieve when we got back to the castle." he paused, thinking through the memories he had witnessed, and feeling a great sorrow that Snape had loved only one person all his life, and had died fighting to protect a son that had never been his. "His memories explained a lot, at least to me. They proved that he was probably the strongest of all of us, playing double-agent, risking his life, and killing the only man who had ever believed in him, all for the love a woman who had failed to save years before."

Harry gulped slightly. "He also had the memory of a conversation between Dumbledore and himself, regarding me. All the hard work we had done trying to find the Horcruxes suddenly meant nothing, because there were seven Horcruxes, not six. Dumbledore had always suspected, but never wanted to acknowledge it. Another Horcrux had been created the night Voldemort had attacked my family, intentionally or not I don't know, but it had placed itself in the only living thing in the room.

"I was the Seventh Horcrux."

Harry let those words sink into the rest of the room as they digested the knowledge, some with tears but all with a deathly silence. He silently took Hermione and Ron's support as they gripped his hand and shoulder respectively. He stared at a point on the floor in front of him, refusing to meet anyone's eyes as he continued in a low voice.

"Suddenly I knew what my life's purpose was. I suppose I should've felt angry that I had been lumbered with such a low blow, or betrayed that Dumbledore had kept it from me all these years. But, above everything else, I knew that it was right.

"I was scared, walking through the castle and out of the doors. I wanted so much to say goodbye, to say sorry that I had not realized it sooner and that so many people had had to die when my death could've ended it all. But I knew that if I had stopped then I'd never leave." Harry smiled bitterly and glanced to Ron. "I knew my friends would have never let me go and if that happened then the war would never end. It was better walking alone.

"But I wasn't alone the whole time. I had the Hallow's ring and, whether they were a figment of my imagination or not, and I'd like to think they weren't, I walked with my parents and my godfathers that night. They were with me every step of way, giving me the strength to know that I was doing the right thing.

"It was over quick when he saw me. He had waited so long I doubt he wanted to risk me getting lucky again. And I died. I sacrificed myself for all those that had ever cared about me. For all those that I had ever loved. And with that sacrifice I invoked the same powerful magic my mother had the night she died, meaning that every curse he sent after that moment would be incapable of causing harm.

Harry looked over his shoulder to where Dumbledore stared down at him, a knowing smile on his face, though his eyes were sad with the weight of Harry's tale.

"Things went a little… weird for a while after that, but suddenly everything made sense. The plans Dumbledore had put in place to protect me and prevent Voldemort using the Elder Wand had fallen through, I was supposed to have disarmed Snape at the right moment to prevent Voldemort from getting the wand, but something better had happened. The night Voldemort had been resurrected he had used my blood, meaning that he tied my life to his with the power of my mother's sacrifice. It was almost as if he had created a Horcrux for me within himself, much like he had created one of himself inside of me. When he "killed" me, I was still linked to life through that connection, and instead of my death, the Horcrux was destroyed instead.

"Luck played into my hands again after that when Narcissa Malfoy lied when she was asked to check if I was dead and Hagrid carried me back to the school. The final bit of luck was due to the wands. Voldemort had killed Snape because he thought he would gain the power of the Elder Wand but, truth is, Snape never owned the wand in the first place. Wand ownership is picky, and it had been Draco Malfoy who had disarmed Dumbledore on the tower that night, not Snape, and I had disarmed Malfoy and taken ownership of his wand following an incident at Malfoy manor. The Elder Wand had turned it's loyalties to me and backfired on the one who dared use it without consent. And with every Horcrux having been destroyed thanks to Neville and his sword, Voldemort was defeated, and this time can't come back."

His final words had disappeared into a near whisper, his eyes still staring at the stair in front of him.

"Why don't you sound happy about it?" a voice from the audience in front of him spoke up after a long silence. "I understand you have been through so much, all three of you, but I would've thought you would at least feel relieved?"

Harry didn't even look up as he began to shake his head. "I feel almost cheated." Harry said in a low monotone. "Walking into those woods and standing before him was the hardest thing I have ever done, but I wasn't expecting to come back. Anyone could've defeated him once that last Horcrux had been destroyed, and would have been protected with the sacrifice I had made. I was given the choice but something called me back…" he hesitated, resisting the urge to look up into the emotional brown eyes he could feel boring into his down-turned face.

The room was silent for a long while before Kingsley stood up and faced Harry. "I would like to say, on behalf of everyone here as well as myself, that I am grateful that you did come back, Harry. After all you have done you deserve a chance to live your own life now, with nothing to overshadow it."

Harry nodded slightly, but still refused to raise his head.

He sensed more than saw McGonagall stand next to Kingsley and announce that refreshments would be served in an old class room down the hall and that everyone should return in half an hour to discuss what was going to happen next. Within moments, everyone in the room had been ushered out, leaving Harry sitting in his chair with his friends sitting supportively either side.

"Would you be alright if Ron and I stretched our legs a bit?" Hermione asked softly.

"Go for it." Harry said, shooting a small smile in her direction. "I'll still be here when you get back."

"Would you like us to get you anything, mate?" Ron asked.

"Maybe a drink?" Harry replied.

Ron nodded and took Hermione's hand as they left the room. In the sudden silence, Harry walked over to the window overlooking the damaged grounds of the school. He sighed, relieved that he would never have to recount that story again. The weight in his chest felt lighter without that responsibility, though the guilt he felt over everyone's deaths, and the uncertainty of what the future may hold still made his heart race with a panic within his broken ribs.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear the person walking up behind him until a soft voice said his name.

With a shock he spun, losing his balance slightly as his ribs protested at the sudden movement and with the sight of Ginny Weasley standing before him.


	6. Chapter 5: Hero at rest

Chapter 5: _hero at rest_

"Are you alright?" Ginny asked timidly again, shuffling uncomfortably from one foot to the other as Harry continued to stare at her.

"I'll be okay." Harry said, finding it hard to make his voice audible. "You?"

Ginny nodded, her eyes shining brightly with unshed tears. "I'm sorry" she said, "About what happened before. I just… I…"

Harry just opened his arms, pulling her into an embrace as she started to cry.

"Just seeing you there, in Hagrid's arms" she sobbed into his shoulder. "It was something I had been having nightmares about all year, and suddenly it had come true. And then you disappeared and no one knew where you had gone. I didn't know what to do, Harry. Everything had just stopped. I didn't know what to do…"

Harry gently hushed her, rubbing a small circle in her back with his bandaged fingers as he gently inhaled the smell of her hair, closing his eyes with relief that she had returned to his arms, even if it was only for comfort.

"I'm sorry" Harry said as she pulled away a little to wipe her eyes. "But none of it was something I planned on doing. I just wanted everything to be over. For people to stop getting hurt, and when I found out that it was up to me to do that…"

Ginny nodded. "…you did the typical Harry thing." she finished.

Harry smiled a bit as her lips curled up slightly through her tears.

She suddenly punched a finger in his chest, not feeling at all sympathetic as Harry cried out in pain as she hit one of his tender ribs. "But don't you dare think that it is all about you, ever again." she said. "Do you have any idea what it would've done to the rest of us if you had actually died?"

Harry bit back the urge to contradict her by saying that he had actually died that day, but instead he just shrugged. "At least you would've been safe." he said.

Ginny frowned at him. "That's all you can say?" she asked, her anguish turning into anger. "That's all you cared about?"

Harry frowned, not really understanding what she meant. "I don't…"

"You are so selfish, Harry!" she said, pushing him in the chest again. "Did you not think about what we were feeling? What would've happened to us?"

Harry shook his head, "That _was _all I was thinking about, Ginny" he interrupted. "Don't you understand that? I cared for you all enough to walk up there, unarmed, in an attempt to ensure you all would live…"

"BUT WE DIDN'T, DID WE!" Ginny shouted at him, tears streaming down her face.

Harry was shocked into silence, a heavy weight pulling across his chest as he struggled to take in another breath.

"We didn't all live, did we, Harry." Ginny repeated, quieter than before. "Some of us died. And with those that died parts of us went with them. I just don't think you appreciate how much."

Harry watched in silence as she stared deep into his eyes for a long moment before storming out of the room, pushing past the people that had started gathering at the door.

"Harry?" Without knowing how she had gotten across the room without him noticing, he felt Hermione once more standing by his side. "Are you going to be okay?"

Harry sighed, pushing Ginny's words to the back of his mind. He nodded, and gently pulled a seat next to window, sitting himself down as the rest of the group began to trickle their way back into the room.

"Harry…?"

"Not really." he said before Hermione could repeat her question. "But I'll deal with it later. Let's just get the rest of this meeting over with shall we?"

Hermione looked up as Ron shrugged at his words and pulled up another seat to sit next to him and passed him a beaker of pumpkin juice. He watched the rest of the DA come in and take up seats around the group, some of them nodding to him with a supporting smile, the others talking between themselves.

"Do you know where she went?" Harry asked Ron quietly as McGonagall and Kingsley came back into the room and walked to the front.

Ron shrugged. "Mum overheard the last of it." he said. "She's followed her to make sure she's okay." He leant forward slightly to make sure he had Harry's attention. "She shouldn't have said those things, Harry. She certainly didn't mean to imply that any of it was your fault. You know that don't you? She's just a bit out of sorts. We all are really, what with Fred gone and everything. As soon as she's calmed down she'll regret what she said and…"

"She meant every word of it." Harry interrupted softly. "And she's right. A lot of people died, and it's going to take a long time for those left behind to get over that. And not all of them are going to be able to find it in themselves to forgive me for taking so long to finish it. It's just something I'm going to have to be prepared for."

Hermione silently took his hand and gave it a squeeze as McGonagall stood up to gain everyone's attention.

"I'd like to say thank you once again to Harry, Hermione and Ron for explaining to us what has happened. Upon discussion with the Prophet, their recount will be summarized and included in a special edition that will be coming out later this week, which will also include summaries of the other matters that we will be discussing over the course of the next hour or so. Understandably, some elements will be left out to protect not only Harry and his friends, but also any readers who take it upon themselves to try to duplicate what Voldemort attempted to achieve. I am sure those in this room will understand this, and will not disclose any further details that could prove dangerous if released."

Kingsley nodded next to her. "The next couple of issues that will be addressed will include the memorial service that will be happening soon, plans for the restructuring of the school and the ministry and also will give us the chance to voice any concerns you may have about the direction McGonagall, acting as head of Hogwarts, and myself, as temporary head of the Ministry, may be taking.

"First of all, the memorial service will be held here at Hogwarts on Friday next week. It will be open to all and every person that wishes to come. Aurors will be providing security support, as there are still a large number of Death Eaters that are outstanding, and we can't deny that such a large gathering of people could be an irresistible target. However, due to the unlikelihood that they have had much, if any time, to regroup as of yet, the risk level is medium at most. If anyone has any ideas of what they think should or should not be included in the service, then please feel free to contact myself or Headmistress McGonagall."

"In terms of Hogwarts, there are obviously a lot of repairs that will need to be made before the school can safely open again at the beginning of next term" McGonagall continued. "It is debatable whether or not the school will be able to open on time, though myself and the rest of the school staff are hoping that, with enough volunteers, the school will be able to return to a functioning level, with repaired protection wards, in time for the Hogwarts train to run as normal on the first of September. Both the Minister and I agree that the sooner we can get things running as normally as possible the better, as education in this school can be described, at best, as disjointed these past few years. I am also going to propose a number of changes to the school curriculum, brought about by the events of the past year and also the rift caused by Voldemort and his ideals. Many of these ideas are based on ideas and wishes of Albus Dumbledore for a better future. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to see them brought to light."

She paused slightly, glancing up and getting an encouraging nod from the former headmaster before continuing. "Though still in early stages, I have spent a fair amount of time this past year reorganizing and sketching out lesson plans…"

At this Neville leant across to the trio and whispered. "She was locked in her room at night after she was caught helping a couple of muggle-born Ravenclaws escape. Ginny and I used to smuggle books into her classes so that she had something to occupy her in the evenings."

Harry frowned at this information, but turned back to the headmistress as her lilting accent continued to fill the room. "…I am proposing more muggle awareness studies for those born into wizarding families, and also magic awareness studies for those who are born into a non-magical home. The aim for these, which will be mandatory from first year all the way through to third, will hopefully breach the gap in understanding that causes rifts in the first few years of education here, furthering muggle/wizard relations.

"I am also proposing to disband the idea of Defence against the Dark Arts as a subject altogether. Though I have been assured that the curse of becoming a DADA professor died with its castor, I'd feel more secure in introducing several new subjects that will broach the areas once covered by the single DADA classes. These, again in early stages of planning and subject to change depending on the teacher, will include practical dueling, wizarding and muggle law, and Application of Magic classes. Dark Arts, as a study, will be included as part of the History of Magic curriculum, which in turn has been completely reviewed. I am hoping that, by giving students the understanding of what is known as Dark Arts, with true-life examples, the students will become more understanding of the consequences involved with experimenting with such dangerous forms of magic."

She took a deep breath and stood back to allow Kingsley to take center stage again. "Similarly, in the Ministry, I am going to propose several new positions in the attempt to increase awareness of the areas the Ministry has previously chosen to hide its head in the sand about and ignore. As well as sifting through all employees to establish those who had been followers of Voldemort, I will be proposing to increase the numbers of Aurors employed by the Ministry, and, at the same time, create different roles within the department. Following the ideas of Muggles and their policemen I will be creating intelligence teams working alongside the targeting teams to prevent any further uprising of dark wizarding groups and also propose to increase the visual side of the Auror teams to ensure that wizards and witches can feel safe on a day-to-day basis. Hopefully this will help repair the level of respect that was lost by Ministry inaction in the past. I am also going to propose to increase of awareness and complete re-development of the department of magical creatures in order to ensure their protection and, in suitable cases, allow them a say in matters that affect them the most."

Harry sensed the excitement growing in Hermione at the idea of working for a new and improved Department of Magical Creatures. And in front of him he could see several of the DA expressing their interest in joining the new Auror teams in whatever capacity. However, Harry couldn't summon enough excitement to care about how he was going to fit into these new roles.

"In order to recruit for these new positions," Kingsley continued "I will be liaising with Headmistress McGonagall to create apprenticeships for students once they have completed their schooling here at Hogwarts."

"Which brings us onto the final matter to be addressed." McGonagall said, her eyes focusing on the area of the room where Harry and his friends were sitting. "Due to the severe disruption these past couple of years have brought us, particularly with the number of students that were excluded from education this past year, we have decided to allow any student that wishes the opportunity to return to repeat this last year of Hogwarts, returning as year 7 students in order to complete their NEWTs. I hope that, should they choose to return, they will be able to help introduce the new classes into the school."

"But for those that do not wish to repeat their final year," Kingsley continued. "Opportunities will be considered at the ministry based on their merits, previous grades here at school, and also upon private interview with their direct line-manager. These, as we have stressed, are early thoughts in how we wish to improve the future. Any concerns or ideas, both the headmistress and myself are more than happy to hear them."

He took a breath and looked around the room. "I feel quite encouraged that there aren't any obvious signs of disagreement on the faces I see around the room." he said with a small smile. "I think we all understand that the way we do things is disabling and outdated and that, with these proposed changes, things will take a turn for the better."

Harry sat quietly through the rest of the proceedings as the group went over the ideas, discussing finer details and establishing teams of planners that would continue to produce working ideas of what McGonagall and Kingsley had suggested as well as going over memorial and funeral arrangements for later that week. A sudden image of Snape, lying broken and cold on the floor of the Shrieking Shack, embedded itself in his mind and as the meeting progressed, Harry felt more and more compelled to go and pay his respects to the man who had truly brought about the end of the war.

* * *

><p>It was nearing early evening when Harry managed to escape the meeting in order to walk down the path that led to the damaged Whomping Willow tree. The atmosphere was warm but peaceful, and though the land still bore the damage from the battle a few days before, there was already signs that nature was beginning to repair itself. The blood stains had been washed away with a small rainfall during the night and uprooted trees had settled into the ground where they had fallen and were already becoming hunting grounds and homes for the fauna of the school grounds.<p>

As he walked, Harry noticed several deer grazing by the edge of the forbidden forest, wary of his presence but not taking flight as he walked past at a distance. Even with his current mental state, and with the knowledge of the task he had set out to perform, he could see that the world had not stopped turning, and life was continuing on, even if he didn't seem to have a place in it at the moment.

The Whomping Willow was very sorry looking when Harry walked up to it, with many broken branches and what seemed to be a burn mark reaching up one side of the trunk, it barely reached out to Harry as he poked the knot that allowed him to pass safely though into the secret tunnel that led to the Shrieking Shack.

As he entered into the darkness Harry pulled out both his wands. He gently caressed the Elder wand, running his fingers up its smooth handle, absently wondering how many times the same action had been conducted and by how many people before raising his own wand with a sigh and whispering "Lumos" chasing the darkness away. He made his way down the tunnel, finding that he had to duck his head in places, and crawl through others.

Even though he had dragged his feet, he reached the end of the tunnel a lot sooner than he had prepared for. He took a deep breath to steady himself before crawling the last couple of feet into the room where he knew Snape would be waiting.

The sudden movement of his entrance into the room disturbed a large swarm of flies from the mass of black robes lying on the floor in the middle of the floor. Harry felt his stomach urge as he took in the smell. The room had no external exits and the windows had been boarded up when Remus had been a regular visitor there. This in addition to the hot weather experienced over the past few days had made the decomposing body a popular theme park for a large number of flies, maggots and other carnivorous insects.

Harry held his bandaged hand against his nose, breathing through the fabric as he hesitantly approached the body. Snape's face was still staring blankly into the place where Harry had leant over him, his facial features had sunken in and his skin had turned white with thick black stains around his lips, eyes and under the jawbone. It was evident that no larger predators had managed to get into the shack to feast on his remains, but with a lurching stomach, Harry could see Snape's customary fitted robes writhing with the sheer amount of insects feasting underneath.

He took a deep swallow, trying to produce enough moisture to calm his heaving stomach. "For what it's worth." He muttered behind his hand. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. You may have expected to be left like this, but you deserve better."

He put his phoenix feather wand away into its customary spot in his waist band then pulled out the Elder Wand. He looked down at the wand of legends and could feel its desire to be used. "Only for the better." He stated aloud, as if reminding the length of wood who was master and flicked the wand at Snape's body surrounding it – and the smell – with the equivalent of a Bubble-Head charm.

With another twist of his wrist the body floated into the air and Harry directed it gently down through the trap door and into the tunnel that returned to the school. No incantation or verbal orders were needed, all Harry had to do was think and he was able to cast a Lumos charm and hover Snape's remains down the tunnel without much effort at all.

He could see the appeal to those that wanted to have the wand for themselves. It contained so much power itself that it barely required anything from the handler. Only a wish could make it do the most amazing things, but Harry could also sense that the wand would get frustrated if not used. It was almost as if it were alive and had, not exactly what Harry would call feelings, but certainly needs, and if those needs were not met then it would attempt to utilise its power to influence it's handler. Harry could see how lesser men could have been intoxicated by this sense, and how so many had fallen foul of the wand's needs. He swore that as soon as his tasks were complete, he would place the wand somewhere safe and inaccessible, though how or where he hadn't really thought upon as yet.

The sun was large and sitting very low in the sky by the time Harry crawled out of the tunnel under the Whomping Willow, and the brightest stars were just beginning to appear. Harry quickly floated Snape away from the path that led back to the castle and instead walked a circuitous route down to the lake and the large white tomb where Dumbledore was buried.

"Don't worry." Harry said as he walked, knowing that Snape probably couldn't care less if he talked to his maggot-ridden remains, but feeling better for doing so. "But I figured that, as he was the only one who truly knew who you were, neither of you would mind if you shared the same view. Nothing as impressive to mark your grave though, but I'm pretty sure that you would just turn that great crooked nose up at anything too fancy."

Harry smiled slightly at the look that would've been on Snape's face should he conjure up an ornate white headstone decorated with little cherubs and flowers on it. "Besides, I think Dumbledore probably looked at the both of us the same. We were both his lost boys, and we both had such an important role to play, but he was just unable to protect us both."

He reached the tomb and manoeuvred the body around to the lake side of the plinth. It seemed as if the Death Eaters had also tried to burn the memorial during their siege of Hogwarts, but other than the circular patch of blackened and scorched grass there was no indication that the flames had touched the white marble. He gently lowered the body onto the ground and pointed the Elder Wand at the patchy grass around the resting place of Dumbledore.

With a thought, Snape's body burst into flames and disappeared into the blackened earth. With another thought, the grass returned to its green state and several small shoots appeared out of the earth. Harry smiled, knowing that it wouldn't take long for them to flower into pure white lilies. He knelt down onto one knee and, after a quick thought, flicked the Elder Wand one more time. A small white stone appeared, stamped with nothing more that Snape's name, birthday and death-day.

With a sigh, he whispered a thank you to both memorials, then stood up and started making his way back up to the castle that loomed like a great shadow against the darkening sky.

He had barely walked through the semi-repaired doors when someone rushed past him, loud sobs half hidden by a hand covering her face. He frowned slightly, hand reaching for his wand as he glanced around the entrance hall, making sure there was no danger before rushing after the distressed girl.

"Hermione!" he called as he ran down the stairs after her. "Hermione! Wait up!"

The bushy haired witch slowed her gait, but didn't stop completely until Harry had caught her elbow, panting painfully against the tightness of his broken ribs as he pulled her into a hug.

"What's happened?" he asked, cradling her head against his shoulder, bracing himself for the worse.

Hermione mumbled something against his shirt, and Harry pushed her away a little.

"Say that again?"

"Ron started shouting at me in the hall." She said, hiccupping through her tears. "Neville asked us what our plans were, and… and I mentioned Australia and going to find my… my parents. I included Ron and then he started getting all moody and quiet and when I asked him what was wrong, he said that he couldn't think about leaving the country with Fred gone, and… and that I was selfish to even suggest it."

She burst into tears again, and Harry pulled her close once more.

"He really said that?" he asked, not believing that, after all his friends had gone through, Ron would be as callous as to speak to Hermione like that. "I'm sure he didn't mean it." He added. "He knows how much you went through to protect them. It's just been a really horrid time for all of us…"

Hermione's shoulder started shaking and she raised her head, smiling at Harry through her tears. "You know, I've been saying those exact same words to so many other people…"

Harry reached out and brushed her cheek with the back of one of his bandaged hands. "About time you heard them yourself then." He said.

Hermione nodded. "I know he didn't mean it. But it doesn't mean that he is going to drop everything to come with me. I was hoping to head out once all the memorial services were done. I have no idea whereabouts they settled, and I wanted to find them and try to work out how to reverse the charm with enough time to spend some time with them before school starts again." She sobbed again, "That is if I can reverse the charm."

"Don't forget that I am coming with you, no matter what" he said. "I was planning on using some of the money from my vault for the tickets, providing the goblins let me access it of course. And I have an idea about the charm and finding your parents. Kingsley mentioned earlier that he wanted to speak with me, probably about the Goblin Unrest, but I was planning on asking him in return if he had any contacts out there. Maybe they can start the search before we even get on the plane to go? Even if they don't find them, at least it will cut down the search area for us."

Hermione nodded. "You think he would do that for us?" she asked.

Harry smiled at her. "As Bill pointed out earlier on, the Ministry owes us a few favours. I think I can call upon this one to help you find your parents."

"And you think he can help with the charm as well?" she asked.

Harry hesitated long enough to make Hermione look up with him with a frown. "I want to make things right." Harry said when her hazel eyes requested an explanation. "If I take the Elder Wand it will make everything a lot less risky for your parents. All I have to do is "wish" for their memories back…"

Hermione stared at him in shock before grabbing his arm and pinching it hard. "You've been using it, haven't you?" She accused, concern laced with anger as she stared into his face. "Harry, you know that thing is dangerous, you have no idea…"

"Yes, I've used it." Harry interrupted, gently prying her finger away from his arm. "I had good reason to. As I said before, I want to make everything right again before I hide it away for good."

"What did you do?"

"You make it sound like I've done a bad thing, Hermione." Harry groaned, "but I swear I haven't. I had the choice to go after the Hallows or to do the right thing from the start, and I haven't gone wrong yet. I am probably much more aware than you are about how much power this wand has, and I promise you that I'm not interested in using it in any way other than to help get everything back to normal again and repair what I can."

"Fred…?"

Harry shook his head. "Fred is gone." He said soberly. "I know that. And some things just can't be changed. The same goes for Remus and Tonks, even my parents and Sirius. But that doesn't mean I can't try to fix the things that I can. Please let me help you, Hermione? You gave up so much to help me this past year. This is the least you can let me do to help you?"

Hermione just shook her head. "Harry, that wand is dangerous. At first Ron and I thought you were an idiot when you said that you wanted to hide it. But you were right. You can't trust it. And you can't trust anyone around you when you have it."

"Dumbledore used it for years without any problems." Harry pointed out a little sharply before a sharp pain in his chest caused him to calm himself down with a few slow breaths. "Look, if I show you what I used it for, will you believe me that I have control over it and not the other way around? And then let me help you with your parents?"

Hermione hesitantly nodded her consent and allowed Harry to take her hand and lead her back the way he had just walked, towards the lake. Within a few minutes they stood in front in front of Dumbledore's tomb. Dropping her hand, Harry walked around and pointed out the small headstone that was already being covered by the leaves of the rapidly growing lilies.

Hermione dropped to her knees and pushed the plant away, quickly reading the dedication.

"Snape?" she asked, looking up at Harry.

Harry nodded. "He was still in the Shrieking Shack." He explained. "I don't think anyone would truly understand the part he played in all this. Nor his reasons. Even if they did understand, there aren't many that would want to stand up to defend him."

"Wouldn't you?"

Harry looked down at the headstone a short time before shaking his head.

"I understand him a lot better now." He said. "But it doesn't mean I can forget the way he treated me all those years. Nor the fact that he was the reason my parents died in the first place. If he had tried to get past the fact James Potter was my dad he may have had the chance to be a father figure to me. As strange as it sounds we probably would've both been better off if he had. But for all his mistakes, I know that this would never have finished without his help, and I figured that he would be happy to be buried simply and with respect. It's probably more than he ever hoped for, but I couldn't just leave him there."

"Why here?"

Harry shrugged and looked behind him at the lake. "Other than it is an amazing view? Dumbledore understood him and was probably the only one who knew exactly who he was and what he went through. Well, before I had looked through his memories anyhow. It just made sense."

"And the lilies?" Hermione asked, standing up and placing one hand on his shoulder.

"I think he deserved to be buried with his one love." He said with a smile, then blushed slightly. "Though I think I overdid the charm a bit and they might just flower all year round…"

Hermione smiled and took Harry's arm, leading them back up towards the castle.

"So, you really want to help me?" she asked.

"Of course." Harry replied without hesitation.

"You are aware that it is a twenty-four hour plane flight across the world, then we have to actually find them…."

Harry shrugged. "I spent the past year sharing a tent with you. I think I could cope with your company a little longer." He glanced at his friend who was smiling slightly. "Don't think this is entirely unselfish." He said. "Things are going to be pretty crazy around here and I'd like to get used to being Harry without any dark prophecy or responsibilities for a while."

"And Ron?" she asked softly.

"I doubt he's going to walk out on us again. If there's one thing he's taken for granted his whole life, it's the closeness of his family around him. But now Fred's gone I think he'll appreciate just how much this means to you to see your parents again. If he doesn't calm down in a few days I'll have a word with him and knock some sense into him. The challenge then will be to get him on the plane without causing too much attention to ourselves!"

Hermione smiled slightly. "Yeah, that should be something to see." She frowned slightly. "Have you ever been on a plane, Harry?" she asked.

Harry chortled slightly. "The Dursley's never even took me to the beach." He said. "I was always left with a neighbour when they went away on holiday. But at least I know more of what to expect than he would." He linked arms with Hermione as they walked. "It will all work out." He said. "I promise."


	7. Chapter 6: Teddy

Chapter 6: _Teddy_

The next few hours passed by in a blur for Harry. He had a short but private meeting with Kingsley and McGonagall, going through their concerns that there would still be a lot of pure-blood followers that would like to see him come to harm. When Harry explained about his proposed trip to Australia with Hermione both adults agreed that it was probably for the best, and that they would both make some enquiries as to people to contact in the Australian Ministry in order to get some help with the search.

Kingsley also promised to prioritize talks with the goblins, to return the sword of Gryffindor and reassure the guardians of gold of the trio's intentions when they had broken in. He told Harry that he would be in contact should the goblins be requesting a direct meeting with him and even went as far as to say that, if the goblins were reluctant to allow Harry access to his vaults, then the ministry would pay for travel and board for the trip to Australia, in repayment for their work the past year.

Harry had thought it prudent to mention Snape's grave to McGonagall as he was leaving, and though she seemed a little taken aback by what he had done she had nodded with understanding and promised that the memorial slab would not be moved. Over her shoulder, Harry had noticed Dumbledore's portrait nodding with pride glinting in his usually sparkling eyes.

Within an hour of leaving the meeting, Harry had collected his belongings, said a few goodbyes to those he had known were still staying at the school and made his way in the company of a very cool Hermione and Ron to the school gates, where they apparated the road that led up to the Burrow.

It was clear on the walk up to the house that it hadn't escaped completely unscathed when the Death Eaters had shown up at the wedding the year before. The ricketiness that Harry had always looked at with great fondness now had been taken to such an extreme that Harry wondered how the misshapen tower that led up to Ron's room and the attic was still standing.

"Dad mentioned that Kingsley was going to get the Ministry to help with a bit of the repair work" Ron explained as they walked through the garden gate. But Harry could still hear the distress as he looked upon the remains of his childhood home for the first time in several long months. "Means mum might get the new kitchen she's always been wanting. Though I don't know if it will be worth it, seeing all of us are likely to move out at some point over the next year."

Harry looked at the stable door that led through the kitchen, glad that some of the key points that he had loved about the house still remained intact. "I think the Burrow will always be a returning point for all of us." He said. "It will certainly always be known as one of my first homes. And no doubt all your brothers will settle down and get their own families over the next few years…" he smiled, a sudden image of a large oak table filled with food and surrounded by the happy faces of all the Weasley children, their spouses and their children. "…in which case Christmas dinner is going to be a very busy time for your mum, and she is going to need a huge kitchen!"

Ron smiled as he went to push open the door. "There is that." He agreed, but his smile faded as he walked into a kitchen that he didn't remember.

Harry pushed through the door beside him, looking to see what had made him stop and felt his stomach fall through the floor when he saw the mess that had once been the heart of the Burrow.

The stove wasn't lit, immediately giving the place a sense of abandonment. The scrubbed-wood table had been damaged, listing to one side due to a missing leg, and all of the crockery that had been on it at the time had fallen to the floor and never been picked up. The doorway that led through to the living room had been damaged, and part of the wall blown away. Harry felt Ron tense up beside him and followed his gaze through the widened doorway to the old grandfather clock that had always fascinated him on his visits.

He unconsciously walked his way over to it, skirting around piles of rubble and the broken sofa to look closely at the clock. He ignored the golden arms of the family members that pointed to "home" or "work" and gently reached for the one that had turned black, still pointed upright to the "mortal peril" position. With a hitching sigh he gently rubbed his thumb over the face of the one Weasley that hadn't survived.

A noise from behind him made him jump and he spun around, feeling slightly guilty at reaching out for something so personal and wincing as his ribs protested the move.

"Mum won't let us take it down." Charlie said as he finished coming down the stairs and put a couple of plates down by the sink. "At least not until after the funeral." He looked around the kitchen. "We haven't had the chance to get these rooms sorted yet." He said. "Dad and Bill are still at the ministry but should be back soon. Fleur, Ginny and I have been concentrating on upstairs, trying to get the bedrooms sorted so that they won't collapse in on you when you sleep. Mum's been sitting with George but I don't think she has even been in here properly yet." He smiled slightly, rubbing his hand against one of the sides. "Just too much to take in I suppose." he added.

"How about Harry and I start on the downstairs?" Hermione offered. "We can at least get the kitchen tidy and get something ready for supper. Maybe that will encourage your mum slightly?"

Charlie smiled gratefully. "That would be nice, thanks." He said with a nod.

Hermione turned to Ron who, though still acting cool towards her, looked as if he appreciated her offer, "Go with Charlie," she told him. "Be with your family. I won't be far if you need me."

Ron nodded slightly, giving her a quick hug and a small smile before following Charlie back up the stairs.

As soon as he was out of sight and earshot, Hermione turned to Harry and raised an eyebrow.

Harry smirked slightly, leaning back against one of the kitchen counters as he crossed his arms. "You'll need to ask me, Hermione." He said, quickly understanding what she was silently hinting at.

Hermione rolled her eyes and huffed. "They need this, Harry. The kitchen was the home of the Burrow, without it they're lost."

"I thought you didn't want me to use it any more than I had to." Harry pointed out, a small but smug smile on his face.

"They need this, Harry." She repeated. "And you know it."

Harry looked around the room, his hands now in his pockets and nodded. "The house just doesn't seem the same without the kitchen." He agreed, then looked back to his friend. "But I want you to ask me out loud."

Hermione came up to stand directly in front of him, her eyes confused and angry. "You said you were going to use the wand to make things right." She said. "Why make me ask?"

"I just want you to acknowledge that I'm using the Elder Wand. I don't want you to pretend it's not there. I need to know that you are okay with this, because I'm going to be relying on you to remind me when it's time for me to let it go."

"And you think that with a wand that powerful, you'd actually bother to listen to me when that time comes?"

Harry nodded. "I'd always listen to you, Hermione." He swore. "People tend to get hurt when I don't."

Hermione smiled softly. "Maybe I ought to get that tattooed here, for the day when you forget." She said, gently tapping his forehead.

Harry shook his head and gently took her hand in one of his own, tapping it against the place on his chest where the scar from the latest Avada Kedavra was still raw and bandaged. "I'll always carry a constant reminder." He said softly.

Hermione's eyes filled slightly and she nodded thoughtfully. "Harry, would you please use the Elder Wand to help the Weasleys?" she asked in a whisper.

Harry smiled at her, not breaking eye contact as he felt a warmth grow up his right arm. "Thank you." He said, and glanced up over her shoulder.

Hermione turned to follow his gaze and gasped as she saw the stove putting itself to rights, a roaring fire flaming to life in the hearth as all the plates started picking themselves up off the floor and stacking themselves neatly onto the repaired shelves.

"How…?" she turned around to face Harry, spying the top of the Elder Wand poking out of his right pocket.

"I saw Dumbledore do this once before." Harry said, watching as the shutters on the window flew back into place and the piled bricks by the door to the living room start to re-layer themselves. He smiled as the room slowly came together. "I always wondered how he made it look so effortless."

"I can't believe it." Hermione said, moving out the way as the table picked itself up and the chairs moved back into their places.

"The wand wants to be used." Harry said, himself speaking in the same awed voice as Hermione. "All the time, in fact. I'm much more aware of the magic around me. I can feel it identifying things that are magical and gently pointing out things that can be done with magic" he shook his head. "I'm in control of it at the moment, probably because I know what it is capable of. But for someone who isn't prepared or powerful enough to control its suggestions…"

Hermione looked at him, concern and warning in her eyes.

"It's not an evil thing, Hermione" he said, pulling it from his pocket and holding it out for her to see. "But we both know the risks so keep an eye out for me, would you? Tell me when I start losing myself?"

Hermione nodded in understanding and gently walked over to the stove and filled up the kettle. "Well," she said after a long silence as the water heated. "It certainly saved us a lot of effort today. And how useful would it have been in Grimmauld Place!"

Harry laughed slightly as he helped Hermione gather a tray of cups together in order to make drinks for the rest of the Weasley's, but they were interrupted by a gasp and a shriek behind them.

Harry spun, the Elder Wand in his hand and pointed at the foot of the stairs before he even realized what he was doing.

With a gasp, Hermione pushed his wand arm down as they recognized Mrs Weasley leaning against the bannister, one foot still on the first stair and one hand held over her heart.

"Mrs Weasley, are you okay?" Hermione rushed around the table to take the matriarchs arm and lead her to one of the chairs.

The pounding of footsteps announced the oncoming cavalry and it wasn't long before the rest of the family came pouring down the stairs, wands drawn, alerted by the shout.

"What the…?"

Harry felt guilty at the look of shock and disbelief on his friend's faces, especially that of Ginny who had followed her brothers down the stairs and was now leaning heavily against Charlie.

"I hope it's okay." He said, as they looked around. "I know you were thinking of redesigning it but…" he gulped slightly and gestured to the room, indicating with a sweep of his bandaged hand the ball of wool on the chair in the corner, the sunlight coming in through the window and the kettle just beginning to whistle. "This is home." He said.

With a sob, Mrs Weasley pulled herself up from the chair and made her way over to where he stood. She stared into his face for a brief second before pulling him into a tight hug.

Harry gasped as she tightened her grip around his injured ribs, but relished her grip all the more because of it, returning her hug as she started whispering "thank you" repeatedly into his hair.

"It's the least I can do." Harry said as she pulled away. "And I plan on coming back here regularly, if you'd have me?"

Mrs Weasley nodded through her tears. "Any time, Harry." She said. "There will always be a spot at the table for you here."

"But how?" Ron said from Hermione's side. "I only just left…"

Harry raised the Elder Wand for them to see.

"And there I was beginning to think it was just a normal wand." Charlie said in disbelief. "And that everything that happened in the hall was just due to… well, the events leading up to it."

Harry shook his head. "I'll have to be careful with it." He said, making eye contact with Hermione. "And, once everything settles down a bit, I'll hide it away, so that no one else can be tempted by it."

"You'd do zat?" Fleur asked from where she standing. "You'd give up all zat power?"

Harry shrugged. "I never wanted it in the first place." He said.

"Just Harry." Ginny muttered from her place next to Charlie, but everyone in the room still heard her.

"Well, I think just think that makes him the perfect person to deserve such a wand." Mrs Weasley said.

Harry smiled at her. "I just want to know who I am." He said. "Without some silly scar, power or special wand. All I've ever wanted is to be me."

"Well, one thing we know for sure is that you will always be part of this family." Mrs Weasley said with conviction. She looked around the kitchen, and started rubbing her hands together as she moved to the cellar door. "I suppose I should start getting something ready for dinner."

Charlie and Ron grinned at each other as she bustled out of the kitchen, Charlie giving Hermione and Harry a thumbs up. Harry was pleased to note that even Ginny seemed softer around the eyes as she looked at him, before she disappeared back upstairs, no doubt to sit with George again.

"You want to use that wand to help us finish the bedrooms?" Ron asked hopefully, indicating towards the stairs and distracting Harry from his thoughts of his ex-girlfriend.

"I don't see any reason why not." Harry replied, and followed Charlie and Ron out the kitchen, leaving Hermione and Fleur to help Mrs Weasley start preparing dinner.

* * *

><p>The next morning Harry stumbled down the stairs from the attic bedroom he had once again been sharing with Ron, and nearly tripped over a pair of large dragon-hide boots as he made his entrance into the kitchen.<p>

"Morning, love." Molly Weasley said, placing a large plate of bacon on the table. "Did you sleep alright?"

"I don't really remember sleeping, so I guess so." Harry replied, slumping into his customary seat.

"Well, you're the first one up." She came over and placed a hand against his forehead as if to check his temperature. "No nightmares?"

Harry smiled and gently took her hand away. "I'm fine, Mrs Weasely, really." He said.

The matriarch looked down at him and smiled sadly. "I think you should stop with the whole "Mrs Weasley" thing." She said, brushing at his fringe again. "We're both adults and I should think we know each other well enough by now that it should be Molly."

Harry nodded, "Okay… Molly" he said.

Molly Weasley nodded in acknowledgement and bustled away from the table again, reaching for the kettle and pouring the hot water into the teapot. "The same would go for Arthur, of course." She said over her shoulder. "No need to be so formal if you're going to be staying with us for the foreseeable."

Harry hesitated slightly from where he had been reaching for some toast, "I forgot to ask if that was alright?" he said.

"Oh, of course it is." Molly said, coming back to the table and taking her seat nearest the stove. "I'm sure it won't be long before you all go your separate ways, and I understand that there really isn't anywhere else for you to go. So you're welcome here for as long as you like."

Harry nodded his thanks. "I do appreciate that Mrs… Molly" he corrected himself. "If there is anything you need help with, just make sure you ask."

"Same rules apply as to the rest of the family." She said. "Pick up after yourself, and be expected to have to get involved with some chores now and then. Though with that wand of yours I don't think you'd have any problems with that."

Harry winced slightly as she mentioned the Elder Wand. "I'll be hiding it away soon." He said. "It's just too risky having it around. I already get enough unwanted attention as it is."

Molly nodded. "You're probably wiser than I am." She said, taking a sip of her tea.

Harry waited a while in the silence, a few creaks from the ceiling indicating that the others were beginning to stir. "Do you have any plans for today?" he asked, trying to make conversation.

Molly took a deep breath, her shadow falling across her face as if she had been trying to keep something from her mind.

"Arthur and I spoke last night when he got home, we're planning on arranging Fred's funeral for tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure Bill and Charlie will help but we've got to get everything in place for that. I'll have to arrange for food to be laid out for those attending as well…"

"How about you leave the food to me?" Harry interrupted, feeling guilty that he had inadvertantly brought up the subject of funerals. "You should probably be with your family."

Molly shook her head. "I couldn't leave you the task of all that, Harry." She said. "Cooking is something I can do without really thinking. I'm sure that I'll manage."

"Well, to be honest, I wasn't going to be doing all the cooking," Harry said. "I was going to ask Kreacher to help out."

Molly frowned. "Kreacher?"

"Sirius' old house elf." Harry explained. "We ended up at Grimmauld Place last year after the wedding, and he helped us out a lot. You may have also seen him leading the house elves during the battle. He's not as bad as he seems once you get to know him, and he's a pretty good cook. I think he's at helping at Hogwarts at the moment, though I'm sure he'd much prefer to help out here. At least until things return to some sort of routine."

Molly stared thoughtfully into her cup of tea "I've never really thought about asking a house elf for help." She said softly.

"I'll make sure he knows to stay out your way should you want to use the kitchen yourself." Harry assured her. "And, to be honest, he probably won't think of it as helping you, but rather than he's obeying me. And it need only be until the funerals are over. Though you are welcome to use him as long as you need."

Molly nodded. "If you could ask him to help out tomorrow, then that would be lovely" she said with a soft smile that reminded Harry strongly of Ginny. "We'll reassess what's going to happen after that."

Harry nodded. "I'll call him later this morning and explain." He said, and turned to the door when he heard someone come barreling down the stairs.

"Morning, Ginny." Molly said as her daughter came in dressed in a baggy t-shirt and shorts.

Ginny hesitated when she saw Harry sat the table, then made her way in and took her place at the table.

"Morning." She replied in a soft voice, reaching for some toast and trying not to make eye contact with Harry.

Harry reached for the tea pot, pouring a large mug full and adding milk and sugar the way Ginny liked it before pushing it across the table to her with a slight tremor in his hand.

Ginny stared at it then looked up at him. He smiled hesitantly before turning his attention to the full English breakfast Molly had just placed in front of him.

"Do you have any plans for today, Ginny?" Molly asked, taking a break from her bustling around to take a drink from her own cup.

"Not really." Ginny said. "I think Percy stayed with George last night so I might take over for a bit, try and convince him to come down to the pond or something. I think he should probably get out of the house for a while."

Molly nodded. "That would be good, thank you." She said, supportively squeezing her daughter's shoulder. "Your dad is trying to get the funeral arranged for tomorrow. Just in case he asks."

Ginny nodded, and Harry felt her gaze on the top of his head as he pushed some bacon around his plate.

"You never said what you would be doing today, Harry." Molly said and Harry jerked his head up, inadvertently making eye contact with the red-head opposite him, causing his beast in his chest to growl against his broken ribs as he saw the look in her eyes.

Harry thought for a few moments, mentally going to down the list he had crumpled up in his pocket. "Well, I need to go back to Hogwarts for a bit to see Madame Pomfrey, and I was hoping to speak with… "

He was interrupted by a small gasp from Ginny as she stared at him with concern and Molly rushed over to put her hand on his forehead again.

"You aren't burning up." She said after a couple of seconds, she pushed him back into his chair and Harry tried to hold in a huff of annoyance as she critically analyzed his features.

"It's nothing serious." Harry reassured her, taking her hands away from his shoulders and gently patting them. "I just need a few dressings changed…"

"I could change the ones on your burns without a problem." Molly interrupted a strange look on her face as if she was expecting him to come out with the news that he had some fatal disease. "I did Ron's last night.

"It's okay." Harry said. "Really. It's just where Voldemort hit me in the forest. The force behind the curse broke a couple of ribs, and I have this impressive bruise about here." He indicated towards his chest. "Because of the nature of the curse she wants to let it heal naturally, and will be monitoring it in case it starts doing anything nasty."

"Does she think it will?" Ginny asked. Harry glanced across the table to see her looking on with concern in her warm eyes. "Do anything nasty that is." She clarified, blushing slightly at his gaze.

Harry shrugged. "I seemed to have survived the first one without a problem." He said. "And I'm pretty sure this one won't hurt half as much once my ribs are healed."

Molly seemed to accept his explanation and moved back to her own chair. "I'll have a word with her later." She said. "Maybe we can arrange something so that you don't have to make the trip to Hogwarts every day."

Harry nodded and the kitchen fell into silence for several long minutes before Harry felt the need to speak. "I was also thinking about trying to make contact with Mrs Tonks." He said, "I don't know if you knew, but Remus and Tonks made me Teddy's godfather, and I haven't even seen him yet. I'm probably not going to be much help, but I was going to make sure Mrs Tonks is okay, see if there's anything I can help her with. It can't be easy looking after a baby, and what with the funerals to arrange…" Harry's voice broke off, but Molly just nodded at him understandingly.

"Make sure you offer my services should she ever need a break or a helping hand." Molly said. "I doubt it won't be long before this house becomes empty again and I might as well start offering my services as a day-care if only to bring a bit of life back to this place."

Harry smiled warmly at her. "I'll make sure I let her know." He said. "Besides, I'll probably be coming to you for advice sooner rather than later."

His face fell when he saw the look of shock on Molly's face and heard Ginny snort with amusement opposite him. "I mean… when I have to look after Teddy." He clarified quickly with a red face. "I never got to spend time with Sirius when I was growing up and I was going to offer to look after him occasionally, but I don't know the first thing about babies."

Molly smiled in relief at his explanation. "You almost had me worried there, Mister Potter." She said in amusement.

Harry sighed, feeling his heated face cool down a little. "As if I had time to get myself into that sort of trouble this last year." He said, chancing a look at Ginny again and meeting her gaze full on, this time neither of them glancing away. "I was trying so hard to keep everyone safe."

A glow began to spread in his chest as he saw Ginny's face had softened into a smile she had come down to breakfast, and he prayed it wasn't his imagination that the was a hint of how she had used to look at him in her eyes.

It was almost an hour before the rest of the family – excluding George – had found their way downstairs for breakfast. Conversation was subdued but picked up as plans were made and plates of food were passed around; life still went on.

By lunch the occupants of the household had all gone their separate ways. Ginny had led George reluctantly by the hand out of the house and down to the pond. Harry got a glimpse of the remaining twin as he walked by the kitchen door. If anything the twin looked worse than when Harry had seen him at the meeting at Hogwarts. His ear was still a dark hole in the side of his head, his face was covered in stubble and his clothes hung off him like had been rifling through Dudley's wardrobe to find something to wear.

"You ready to go, mate?" Ron asked, walking into the kitchen behind Hermione and followed Harry's gaze as he watched Ginny and George walk down the garden towards the pond.

Harry nodded absentmindedly. "You think he'll be okay?" he asked, nodding towards the dejected looking figure.

Ron shrugged. "We'll certainly do our best to make sure he will be." He said, "But I think he'll always be half missing, you know?"

Harry nodded and followed his friend as he led the way past the wards.

"Percy mentioned this morning that he had been talking to him about the funeral." Hermione said. "He tried suggesting that we should make it light and jolly, set off some Weasley fireworks or something, make it more Fred's style…"

"I didn't hear him say anything about that." Ron said, looking to his girlfriend with interest. "Did he say how George took it?"

Hermione just shook her head sadly. "Told Percy to "shove it"." She said. "Which, according to Percy, was the most he had said for about a day."

The three of the apparated to a point just outside the school gates and identified themselves to the auror posted on guard there before walking up to the school.

"Do you think we should arrange it for him?" Harry suggested. "I mean, George is probably trying not to think about it right now. But maybe if we set some fireworks off at the funeral, he'll remember that Fred isn't as gone as he might think?"

Hermione looked to Ron who shrugged. "I'll mention it to mum or dad tonight, let them decide." He said. "I think they would probably be up for the idea. No matter how much they wound my mother up, I think she actually loved the way they were." He snorted slightly. "It would've certainly been a lot quieter around the house if they had been… well, normal."

As they neared the newly repaired doors of the school, Hermione glanced to Harry. "You okay to see Madame Pomfrey by yourself?" she asked. "We can meet back here once we've found Kreacher, so that we can all go see Teddy together?"

Harry looked to his friends. "You want to come?" sounding a little surprised.

"Of course we do." Hermione said. "I would love to see him."

Harry chuckled as he saw the strange sideways look Ron was sending her way.

"I'd watch it, Ron." He said. "She's sounding broody."

"Oh, shut it, Harry." Hermione said, pushing Harry's shoulder slightly. "I just think he'd appreciate having as many of his parent's old friends looking after him as possible."

Harry nodded in agreement, before heading for the grand staircase that headed up to the infirmary.

* * *

><p>Harry once more found himself sat on one of the many hospital beds in the Hogwart's infirmary, surrounded by hospital curtains that prevented the rest of the ward seeing him shirtless as Madame Pomfrey started unraveling the bandages from around his chest.<p>

Harry winced as she pulled away the gauze that had been covering the wound from the Avada Kedavra, glancing down to see that the padding had become slightly stuck to his chest and now his wound was welling with blood.

Madame Pomfrey tutted slightly as she wiped away a day's worth of ooze with a clean cloth. "It unfortunately looks slightly infected," she said, squeezing at the skin around the outside of the weeping sore. "I'm beginning to think I should've come up to check on you as soon as I heard you had gone up to the dormitory to rest."

"Don't worry about it." Harry reassured her. "You had a lot of think about. I was fine, just needed to sleep a bit is all."

The med-witch just gave him a look as she picked up a bottle of citreous yellow paste of the bedside cabinet. She poured out a small amount onto a cloth and started wiping it over the wound. Harry gagged as he caught a whiff of the substance, and brought a hand up to cover his nose.

"Do I even want to know what that is?" he asked, drawing his own conclusion between the strong smell of ammonia that was being emitted by the cloth and the colour of the substance inside the bottle.

"Probably be better for your digestive system if you don't" Pomfrey agreed, standing back to admire her handiwork. "Take a deep breath, Potter." She said. "Let's see how those ribs are doing."

Harry took a deep breath, momentarily forgetting about the odorous smell and ending up coughing and choking, wincing in his attempt to keep his ribs still.

"Just as painful as yesterday, I see." The medi-witch said. She placed another, thicker piece of gauze over the wound in Harry's chest. "I'm pretty sure the ribs will heal by themselves providing you take care of them. The wound however…" she broke off as she started strapping a wide bandage around Harry's chest.

When she was done she took a step back and perched herself on the edge of Harry's bed next to him. "I'm actually rather concerned, Mister Potter." She said softly. "At the moment that wound is showing no signs of starting to heal, and if anything, looks deeper than it did yesterday when I saw you." She took a breath and Harry noticed her hand twitching as if she wanted to reach out to take his hand. "I've been thinking about reasons behind it, but I just don't know enough to be able to help you. I know you'll be reluctant but I was wondering if you'll allow me to refer you to a colleague of mine in St Mungos. I doubt he'd have any more experience with this particular curse than I have…"

Harry smirked and interrupted. "You can beat him hands down with experience." He said. "You've been treating _me_ for the past seven years."

Madame Pomfrey smiled. "I won't force an answer out of you today." She said. "But if the infection refuses to improve by the end of the week, would you at least consider letting someone else have a look?"

Harry could hear the worry in her voice as she pleaded with him. No longer ordering a student to do what is best for them, but rather expressing her concerns and allowing a young adult to respectfully make his own decision.

Harry nodded. "If nothing improves by the end of the week." He said with a nod.

Madame Pomfrey gave in to her wants and reached out to grip Harry's wrist in thanks and support before getting back to work with re-bandaging his hand.

"Molly Weasley offered to do a few bandage changes so that I wouldn't have to come back here that often." He said. "Would you be okay with that? It's Fred Weasley's funeral tomorrow. And I imagine Tonks and Remus will be buried the day after. I'd like to be there to support them as much as I can."

Madame Pomfrey seemed to think on it as she examined the healing skin on Harry's right hand.

"If you're happy with her seeing your chest then I see nothing wrong with it." She said. "I can give you the rest of the bottle of…" she hesitated and indicated to the noxious smelling liquid she had used earlier. "…and Merlin knows that she has more than enough experience with cleaning up wounds. I'll trust you to let me know if it gets any worse. But I want to see you in no longer than three days, do you understand?"

Harry nodded. "Perfectly." He replied. "I'm happy to follow orders for the moment."

Madame Pomfrey smiled again as she started wrapping him up. "Keep the bandages on your hands for another day, and then they can come off." She said after finishing with his left hand.

Harry hesitated a moment after pulling on his shirt, perched on the side of his bed as the matron stood in front of him.

"Well, off you go Mister Potter." She said, shooing Harry up off the bed and towards the entrance of the curtains. "Go and get yourself into more trouble."

Harry smiled and quickly surprised himself as much as the medi-witch as he gave her a quick hug on the way out. "Thank again." He said. "For everything. You've done as much as anyone and I doubt you've received any thanks."

He heard a suspicious sniff as the matron pushed him away. "Away with you, Mister Potter, before I find reason enough to keep you here."

* * *

><p>Harry sucked in a deep breath as he followed Ron up the path that led to Andromeda Tonks' house. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the pond he had landed in, and there was still evidence in the lawn of where Hagrid had crashed the bike. From the open windows of the house, the trio could hear the scream of a baby crying and the sound of a lady trying to soothe it back to sleep.<p>

Harry hesitated slightly before raising a hand and knocking on the door. He heard a very unfeminine oath before he could hear the sound of approaching footsteps and the door was opened to reveal a very tired looking grandmother clutching what appeared to be a pile of blankets that was crying loudly.

Harry winced as the similarity between Andromeda and her sister Bellatrix Lestrange once more conjured several distressing memories and, from the sharp intake of breath next to him,it seemed Hermione felt the same way.

"Harry." She said with a bit of surprise. "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon?"

Her tone of voice made Harry feel like he had to explain himself. "We just thought that you could do with some help." He said. "Plus, Remus said that he and Tonks had made me Godfather to Teddy… I never got to spend time with Sirius when I was growing up and, well, I know how much it meant to me finally get to spend some time with him. I was kinda hoping that we could arrange some way that I can spend time with him, and maybe give you a bit of hand at the same time?"

Andromeda's face softened as she listened to Harry stutter over his words. She stood back slightly and nodded her head in the direction of the living room. "I'm sure we can come to some agreement" she said with a soft smile, so unlike that of her evil sister.

Once in the living room Andromeda sat herself down in one of the chairs, jigging the bundle of blankets absently, trying to get the wriggling mass to settle.

Harry felt Hermione nudge his elbow and shrugged as she tried to indicate that he should be doing something other than taking a seat. With a small huff of exasperation Hermione walked over to where Andromeda sat.

"Can I hold him a bit for you?" she asked.

Andromeda looked up at her warily then nodded, helping Hermione adjust her grip accordingly for the tiny bundle. Within moments Hermione was happily walking over to where Harry and Ron were sat, making cooing noises and funny faces to whatever was hidden in the crook of her arm.

Ron sat back in his chair as she neared, a slight look of fear on his face as if whatever she held was dangerous. Harry supposed that he had been too young to appreciate Ginny as a baby and ignored his friend as he sat forward, leaning towards Hermione as she sat between her two friends on the sofa so that he could get his first look at his godson.

The baby was still sniffling as Hermione cooed at him, and Harry reached a hand out to push the blanket to one side in order to see the newest member of his family better.

Almost instantly he was met with a large pair of blue eyes, their corners moistened with crocodile tears and cheeks blotchy with the effort to wail like he had been.

"Hey, Teddy." He said softly, reaching a hand out and pushing his finger into the grip of the tiniest fingers he had ever seen. Almost instantly Teddy started to settle, his large eyes staring at Harry as if he was the only thing in the world.

"Well," Andromeda said with relief from across the room when the baby seemed content enough to stay settled. "Either he's filling his nappy or he is rather taken with you, Godfather Potter."

Harry chuckled slightly as he jiggled his hand up and down a little. "I could get used to that." He said with a smile. "He's amazing!"

Hermione smiled slightly and readjusted herself in order to hand the baby over to her friend. Harry's smile immediately fell from his face at what she was suggesting.

"Oh, come on, Harry, if you want to look after him then you're going to have to hold him at some point." She pointed out.

"But he's so little." Harry said.

"And he'll get big everso fast." Andromeda assured him. "You won't hurt him, Harry, babies are surprisingly robust creatures and they tend to bounce quite readily in accidents. Wizarding babies more than most." She added as an afterthought.

Harry hesitantly reached out and tried to copy Hermione's pose as she transferred the youngster into his arms. "Just support his head." She said as she relinquished that part of the body over last. "He won't have any control over his neck for a while yet, so you have to be careful of that part the most."

"How do you know so much?" Ron said from his girlfriend's other side, trying hard not to show an interest in the baby, but leaning forward to look over her shoulder all the same.

Hermione looked up and winked at Harry. "A woman's intuition. It comes naturally." She said.

Harry glimpsed Ron turn a couple of shades paler and heard Andromeda chuckle from across the room whilst he tried to control Teddy's balance as the baby threw his arms around and gave a happy gurgle.

Harry smiled down at his godson again, and laughed as the young baby's mop of gingery hair suddenly turned black, though his eyes remained blue.

"There, now he could almost be yours." Hermione said with a laugh.

"If you weren't all so young and have been through so much I would suggest that you take him." Andromeda said tiredly from across the room. " 'Dora was handful enough, and that was when Ted was here to help me." Her voice sounded hollow as she ran her hands through her dark brown hair, her face looking tired.

"Well, you have three eager babysitters here." Hermione said, ignoring Ron's choking protest from behind her.

"And, when he's a little older we can always take him away on holidays for you." Harry said. "Give you a couple of weeks break here and there."

"And mum mentioned that she is willing to help out with whatever you need." Ron put in after a prompting look from Hermione. "I think she's going to miss having all us kids around. She mentioned something about opening a day-care… I think she's planning for a lot of Weasley grandkids now the war is over, hasn't ran it past us yet though, but it just gives you the chance for a couple of hours off here and there, should there be anything you need to do…" his offer petered off uncertainly as Andromeda started to cry from across the room, dropping her head into one hand and using the other to wipe her eyes.

Hermione got up and walked across, sitting on the arm of her chair and placing her hand on her shaking shoulder. "The important thing is to know that you are not alone." Hermione said. "If you need anything at all, even if it's a bit of a break, then just let someone know. We'll all help you out in any way we can."

The room fell into silence as Andromeda reached up and took Hermione's hand, silently accepting the trio's offer of assistance in a time when she had never felt more alone.


	8. Chapter 7: Time to say goodbye

_Sorry for the lack of contact, folks. I'm sure you've heard all the usual suspects. I have been drabbling with several other stories, though I have been veering away from Harry Potter admittedly and finding new loves (none in the shade of grey though!). Anyhow, thanks for sticking with me... oh, and if any of you read Marcello and have problems viewing the chapters, can you let me know? I think some people have been struggling. Thanks. _

Chapter 7: Time to say goodbye.

The trio spent a happy afternoon with Andromeda and little Teddy. Harry's experience with handling babies went from nil to several hours as the young metamorph refused to let anyone else hold him for more than a couple of minutes. Even when he had been transferred back to Hermione during a cat-nap he had sensed the changed and had woken, refusing to settle until Harry had returned from his bathroom break.

In the end, it had been up to Harry to bath and change Teddy, laying him down in his cot and gently rubbing the back of the tiny fingers, making gentle promises that he would be back to see Teddy again soon.

The trio had returned home to the Burrow in silence, each of them contemplating the wonder that was a baby born at the peak of war, and what future lay ahead of him with no parents. Harry appreciated Hermione's understanding hug as they walked up to the kitchen door of the Burrow, before taking Ron's hand and leading him through to the living room as Harry sat himself down at the kitchen table, holding his head in his hands as he once again tried to not think so much about what was going to happen next.

The next morning came all too quickly. Upon Harry's request, Kreacher had readily arrived early in the morning to make breakfast, leaving Molly to apply all her attentions onto her one remaining twin, dressing him up into smart black robes, making George almost unrecognisable in the absence of colours.

Arthur pulled Harry to one side before they started making their way down to the village church where Fred was to be buried. "Harry, I want to thank you for your suggestion about the funeral." he started, slightly hesitantly at first, his voice hollow. "About making the funeral the way Fred would want it..." he sighed at the mention of his son and reached out to grip Harry's shoulder. "But I think, for George's sake, that we will do this the usual way. Though Fred will always be remembered, he is gone. This funeral is about helping those left behind to let go."

Harry followed his gaze to where there rest of the Weasley's were congregating in the garden. Ginny was wrapped against Bill's chest, Fleur supporting her husband from the other side. Charlie stood somberly next to Percy, and Ron was hovering near his mother and George, Hermione's hand clutched tightly in his own.

He shook his head. "I respect your decision to have the funeral the way you want it." he said, before meeting the patriarch's gaze . "But I don't agree with you that he's gone. I know that those that die never really leave us." he gave Arthur a small smile. "You should remember that and take strength from it."

Arthur's eyes took on a distinct shine as he nodded in return, pulling Harry into a strong embrace, one hand on the back of his head and the other tight around his shoulders.

"Thank you." Arthur said. "For everything. But most of all for not leaving us yourself."

Harry just patted Arthur awkwardly on the back, not really knowing how to respond to the father's heartfelt words. When they pulled apart, they turned to see the rest of the family had already started the walk down to the village and, with Arthur's arm still around his shoulder's, Harry followed.

The funeral was short and quiet. Hermione sat between Ron and Harry, giving silent support to Ron and at the same time gripping Harry's hand in attempt to gain comfort herself, though Harry barely noticed. He spent the entire service staring at the back of Ginny's head as she wept silently into Bill's shoulder, the beast inside him howling with anguish at his inability to gather the courage to stand up and offer her his embrace.

At the end of the sermon, Harry followed the red-heads out the graveyard, where a newly dug plot held a simple wooden coffin, Fred's name engraved onto a silver plaque on the top. He throat tightened as Arthur led the Weasley's into stepping forward, dropping to one knee and resting a hand on the headstone, muttering a few words of goodbye before standing up and letting the next person take their turn.

When it came to George, the whole family seemed to hold their breath as he fell to the ground, staring with what seemed to be disbelief at the name engraved in stone. Harry watched as tears filled George's eyes, and the boy shook his head slightly before standing up again, not saying a word as he allowed his mother to take his hand and lead him away.

When it came to Harry's turn, he huffed out his breath, steeling himself silently as he thought about what he should say.

"I can't tell you how sorry I am." he started. "It shouldn't have been this way, and I know now it could have all been prevented if…" he sniffed as he couldn't bring himself to voice his guilt "I'll look after them, though." he said. "You know I will." he glanced up to see Ginny's eyes on him and felt a warm breeze blow his fringe into his face. He smiled inside, feeling a sense of peace as he watched the breeze chase around the other headstones, rustling Ginny's skirts and her hair as she gave a small smile in return, before her expression dropped in confusion and she looked away.

Harry looked down at the headstone again. "Quit your meddling." he said, "You're supposed to be dead!"

With that, he patted the top of the headstone and stood up, following the rest of the family back to the Burrow where Kreacher had provided a buffet lunch for all those that had attended the church.

"Well, that went well." Hermione said, handing Harry a cup of tea as they stood observing the sea of red-heads mingling in the sunny garden, a soft murmur of conversation playing on the breeze, accented by the odd sound of laughter as someone recounted one of the twin's pranks.

"Sure it did." Harry said quietly, "Onto the next." Hermione frowned at his bad taste, but Harry just shrugged in a half apology. "Fred wouldn't have wanted this." he said, gesturing to the garden. "It's… dull."

"Harry, don't be so horrid. It's a funeral."

"But it's the funeral of someone extraordinary." Harry pointed out, his voice matching Hermione's low but slightly incensed tone. "Fair enough that Remus and Tonks would be buried this way… but not Fred."

Hermione sighed. "Look, it's their choice. Please don't do anything to hurt them in any way."

"As if I would." Harry returned. "I gave my life to save them. I just don't agree with it is all."

Harry glanced across the garden, seeing Molly standing subdued next to Arthur, her hands wrapped around a mug as if trying to gain warmth from it, even though it was a bright summer's day. Bill, Charlie and Fleur were sat at one of the garden tables, and not far from them stood Fred's group of school friends including Angelina and Lee as well as Oliver Wood and a couple of other quidditch players. Each of them sat with their eyes downcast, but every now and then Harry would see the shadow of a smile flit across their expression as a memory of their fallen brother came to the surface. On the other side of the garden, Harry watched Ron and Ginny speaking quietly together, Ron was gently rubbing his sister's arms as tears continued to trail down her cheeks.

In a corner of the garden, not far from where Hermione and he stood, sat George, flanked on one side by Percy who looked awkward, clearly wishing that there was something he could do to take away the pain his brother was feeling.

Harry studied George's face closely. He sat silently, unmoving, much as he had been the past couple of days. His pallor was grey and it seemed as if he had lost a fair bit of weight, though whether this was from before the final battle or after, Harry couldn't be sure. He was staring into space, ignoring everyone around him, almost as if something inside of him had died, though, Harry supposed, in a way it had.

As he watched the dull eyes of his friend Harry realised that the spark of life that had been so strong in both of the twins had completely disappeared, leaving the shell of what had been the strongest of pairings. He watched as Percy leant towards his brother, offering to help his brother out with the shop. It was the most he had heard George say since that fateful night when he replied, "No offence, Perce, but not all our methods were… legal. I don't think you'd enjoy it."

Harry stood silent as Percy seemed to loose hope, muttering something about getting another drink, he stood and walked across to the table where his older brothers were sitting. An idea began to form in Harry's mind and with a sudden moment of decision he moved away from the fence post he had been leaning against and started to walking towards George.

"Harry, no!" Hermione said, slightly louder than she probably meant and garnering the attention of several people around her, including the brothers sat at the table.

Harry shook off Hermione's hand on his arm and handed her the cup of tea she had provided. "I know I can help." he said, looking into her eyes and willing her to trust him.

In her hesitation he moved away, coming to a halt behind the emotionless boy before he had fully completed formulating the plan in his mind.

"George, would come with me, please?"

The garden began to fall silent, at both Hermione's exclamation and also at the low but unsympathetic tone Harry had spoken with. George made no response, but Harry continued to stand there, knowing that George had heard him, and patiently waited for a response. From behind him, Harry could feel the rest of the family begin to gather behind him and heard the intake of breath, most likely from Molly, as she began to say something but was deterred from doing so, most likely from Arthur silently advising her to remain quiet.

It took almost a full minute before George looked up at him.

"If you want to tell me how sorry you are, how much you wish you could change things, and how you _really_ understand, then don't bother. I don't want to hear it."

"Good." Harry said equally bluntly. "Cause you aren't going to hear any of that from me. We are all hurting here, believe me." he soften his tone slightly. "But I really think you ought to come. I think there's something you should see."

George sat silently, looking up into Harry's face and trying to read the expression in his eyes. As the silence stretched out Harry stood still, returning George's gaze with as much sincerity as he could muster without over doing it. Finally George broke first, giving a nod and standing, following Harry to the garden gate and leaving the rest of the family staring after them in bewilderment.

George walked one step behind Harry until they were out of hearing range of the rest of the family. Harry then turned to face the brother. "You okay if I apparate you?" he asked.

"Where to?" George asked.

"You'll see." Harry said, holding out his hand. His arm was left hanging in the air as his friend just stared at it. "Please trust me, George. This is something I think Fred would approve of."

George looked up at those words, fierce anger in his eyes. "What makes you think you know what he would approve of?" he snarled.

Harry shrugged, making sure not to become defensive at George's hostility. "I know he wouldn't approve of you sulking around. I also know he would not have approved of you refusing to share some of your life stories at his funeral. It was so serious. Not like Fred, and not like you at all." he indicated towards his hand. "But I think you already know that, and just can't bring yourself to care."

George deflated somewhat and hesitantly held out his hand, pulling back slightly before grabbing Harry's wrist. "How long is it going to take?" he asked.

"As long as it needs." Harry assured him, and within a heartbeat he felt George's fingers firmly grip his wrist and he apparated them both to a spot just outside the gates of Hogwarts school.

"What are you doing, Harry?" George asked, becoming incensed again.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Harry replied, pushing open one of the gates and walking through, holding it open until George followed him.

"I'm not going up there." George said. "Not now, not ever. There is nothing I want here."

Harry shrugged. "That's your choice." he said, "However, I'm going to the forest."

He turned and walked away, heading in the direction of where Hagrid's hut had once stood, not stopping to wait for his friend but knowing that George would follow at his own pace.

The twin closed the distance between them as Harry came to the tree-line of the forest. "Ready?" Harry asked.

"For what?" George asked.

Harry didn't answer but looked back at the forest, pulling out the Elder wand, laying it flat in his hand he willed it to show him the way to the clearing where Voldemort had been waiting.

"A point-me spell?" George asked. "You don't even know where we are going?"

Harry gave him a small smile. "I know where I want to go, yes." he said. "But where it is exactly… well, I don't think you have the patience to be stumbling around the trees all day whilst I find it."

He started walking with George following close behind, and after a few minutes glanced to his friend. "May I tell you a story?" he asked.

George shrugged, pushing a branch out of his way as walked. "Please yourself." he muttered.

"All I said in the headmaster's office after the battle was true." Harry said, not caring if George looked interested or not. "Especially about the Hallows." he indicated to the wand in his hand. "This _is_ the Elder wand, and Dumbledore won it fairly when he battled Grindelwald back in the last war. Just as the wand is real, so is the cloak. Hermione and I found the headstone of Ignotus Peverell not that far from the graves of my parents. Apparently I'm a direct descendant of the Peverell family and it's the real deal, and it may be one of the reasons I've been "hidden" from death all these years. A real invisibility cloak, made from the cloak of Death himself." Harry snorted. "Whatever it is, I know it works." He glanced at his friend. "Just as I know the third hallow, the ring, also works."

George faltered in his step beside Harry then suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm, spinning Harry around to face him. "The stone that brings back loved ones from death?"

"Don't get your hopes up." Harry said, trying to quickly subdue the hope had suddenly sparked to life in his friend's eyes. "Let me finish explaining, and I trust that what I tell you will remain between us as it's not really my story to tell but I think you already know some of it."

Harry turned away from George, and continued to walk in the direction indicated by the Elder Wand. "When Dumbledore was younger he was left in charge of his family. There was Aberforth, who was constantly overshadowed by Dumbledore's brilliance, and a younger sister called Ariana, the one that was in the painting that linked Hogwarts to the Inn. His younger sister lost her mind following an incident with some muggles and consequently tended to have large bouts of accidental magic, and our Dumbledore gave up his life's dreams in order to care for her when his parents couldn't. Then one day, both brothers and a friend had an argument. One thing led to another, and eventually wands were drawn. Somehow Dumbledore's sister got hit in the crossfire and Dumbledore carried the guilt that he was the cause of her death until the day he died, torn with the idea that he may have even sent the curse that killed her. Because of this, once he knew the Hallows existed, he was fixated with the idea that the ring could bring her back, even if it were for the briefest of moments so that he could beg her forgiveness.

"When he eventually found the ring he put it on without thinking of the consequences, only thinking that he could see Ariana again. Because he lost himself for that one moment he was cursed by the ring. He never did get to speak to her and I know how much it cost him to admit that he had made such a foolish mistake."

The wand started to spin on Harry's hand and he stopped, looking out through the last few trees into the clearing that had looked a lot more sinister in the dark hours before dawn. He turned to George, making sure he had eye contact and making sure his friend understood what he was trying to say.

"I can promise you, the ring does work. It allows you to speak to those you have lost but only if you use it right. Too many people have become hung up on the idea that it will bring them back, that you can spend the rest of your life pretending that the worst did not happen. That's not the truth. If you think that you will just become crazy." he paused, noting that George was drinking in every word he was saying, a serious look on his face. "But the ring _will_ allow you to speak with Fred, just as it allowed me to speak to my parents that night. Just understand that it only gives you the chance to say goodbye. He won't want to stay. He's probably having too much fun jinxing Snape in the afterlife." Harry laughed slightly, "Hell, with my dad and Sirius up there as well, Snivellus wouldn't stand a chance!"

Harry felt relieved when he saw George smile at that image, before looking as serious as before. "Why are you doing this?"

Harry shrugged. "You need closure." he said. "You need to understand that, just because he's not here, doesn't mean that Fred will not be looking out for you. But you're right with what you said before, you don't want to hear that from any of us and he could probably explain it a lot better than we ever could. I won't necessary say that he's over thrilled to be dead but he's accepted it, and so should you."

George thought over Harry's words. "How could you know that?"

"Because he hasn't come back to haunt us." Harry said dead pan. "I mean, can you imagine another Peeves hanging around the halls of Hogwarts? But you shouldn't be asking me, why don't you speak with him?"

George hesitated, "But what do I say?"

"Sometimes you don't have to say anything." Harry said, "But when you are done, I'm going to be taking the ring and hiding it and I don't want you to ask me for it again, understand?"

George nodded.

Once Harry could see the promise he bent down, rummaging through the undergrowth until his fingers brushed against the ring.

"You left it here?" George asked incredulously, suddenly looking up and around the clearing as he realized what had happened there a few days previously.

Harry shrugged. "I was the only one who vaguely knew where it was." he said, and indicated to the wand. "And even then I wasn't too sure." He held the ring out, "Go into the clearing," he said. "I'll give you some time, and come back in a bit."

George nodded, taking the ring and walking out of the trees. Harry could see him standing undecidedly in the middle before twisting the ring around in his hand.

With a jump he seemed to spin to meet someone just standing behind his shoulder. Within a heartbeat he had fallen into someone's arms and collapsed to the floor in floods of tears. Harry frowned as he started to see a wavering image appear within George's embrace and as the seconds passed he was able to see the ghostly image of Fred consoling his brother, tears streaming down his own face as he spoke into his twin's right ear.

Fred looked up over George's shoulder as Harry stood there in disbelief and nodded to him, sending a silent thank you to Harry for what he had done.

* * *

><p>Upon their return to the Burrow later that evening Harry watched as George walked up to his mother, giving her a small smile and nod, letting her see that he was still wounded but that his recovery had started.<p>

With a cry of relief Molly had embraced her son and within moments the whole of the family was involved in a mass hug.

Harry saw Hermione stare at him with a thoughtful expression on her face. Harry subtly opened his hand to reveal the Resurrection Stone lying on his palm. Her eyes opened with shock in realisation as to what he held, then soften again before she withdrew her wand and flicked it at a pile of logs in the corner of the garden.

With a crackle and a whoosh, several packets of Weasley made fireworks flew up into the air, causing all that were left at the Burrow to look up into the air and exclaim at the view.

Harry wandered over to Hermione as family began laugh at the shapes being made by the magical display, George pointing out his favourites with a smile, though there were still tears of sadness streaming from his eyes.

"Impressive firework display, Miss Granger." Harry said with a smirk. "I thought we were going to go along with the Weasley's wishes of no theatrics?"

Hermione shrugged. "I decided to follow your lead, oh Great One." she replied. "Besides. It seems like such a clear night, would have been a shame to waste the mysterious pile of fireworks that I had found under the logs over there."

Harry chuckled slightly and put an arm around his friend's shoulders as they stood and watched, a warmth spreading through his chest as he watched the family that had taken him in take the first step towards the future.

* * *

><p>All too soon, Harry found himself taking a deep breath as he walked through the sunlight towards the small muggle churchyard where Colin Creevey was to be buried.<p>

"Onto the next." Ron muttered from beside him, unknowingly repeating Harry's words as he tugged at his black tie and once again readjusted the flaps of his black suit. He winced slightly in the bright sunlight, still suffering the aftereffects of consuming the best part of a bottle of Ogden's Best the night before, even now it was mid-afternoon.

"Leave them alone, Ron." Hermione said softly, taking one of his hands and taking it in her own to reassure him that she wasn't criticizing him. "You look fine."

"It's not really about looking fine though, is it?" Ron replied. "I'm just nervous. The last thing Dennis is going to want is one of us lot embarrassing his parents in front of the rest of his family. I doubt many of them know what sort of his school they went to."

"I never really thought about that." Harry said, his hands in his trouser pockets. He was wearing the same suit as he had that morning at Remus and Tonks wedding, though Ron had seen sense to remove his wizarding robes.

"I wonder how they explained how he died." Hermione said sadly. "And I wonder if they are going to let Dennis come back to school in September?"

Harry sighed again as they saw a crowd of people standing outside the short stone wall surrounding the tiny village church in the parish where the Creevey family lived. He saw various members of what must have been Colin's family and standing just to one side there was a small congregation of Dumbledore's Army that had been well enough to attend the ceremony.

As soon as they saw Harry they broke away from their nervous little group and headed towards the him and the others, unconsciously falling back on their reliance on Harry's leadership skills to guide them in a situation where they all felt a little out of their depths.

"Hey," Seamus greeted them, reaching out to shake Harry's bandaged hand and then moving onto the other three as Harry was passed around the rest of the group.

"Neville not here yet?" Harry asked and Pavarti shook her head, a pale complexion and dark bruises covering the left side of her face hinting that she could only have been released from St. Mungos recently.

"I think he was coming with over with Hannah Abbott." Pavarti said. "They got pretty close last year." She added.

"Really?" Ron asked, voicing the exact same question that had popped into Harry's own head, and he subconsciously glanced towards where Ginny stood next to him. He had been so sure that, as typically happens in stressful conditions, his two friends would have gotten together at some point over the past year. It had never occurred to him that anyone else may have been involved, and it sent the coiled beast that resided in his chest into a bit of a panic as he mentally started going through the rest of the potential suitors for the youngest Weasley.

"Really." Neville's voice said from behind them, and they turned to see him walking up hand in hand with Hannah, both blushing slightly under the approving gazes of the trio.

"Congratulations." Hermione said.

"Did it take as much as these two?" Harry said with a smirk, indicating towards Ron and Hermione who immediately retaliated both verbally and a punch to the shoulder.

"Hey, guys, maybe we ought to calm it down a bit." Dean suggested. "The muggles look like they are expecting us to start a party or something."

Harry looked across to where the family group seemed to be staring at the group of students, but then he realized that they were actually staring past them. He turned around again to see a black hearse driving slowly down the road, followed closely by several more plain black cars carrying the nearest relatives of Colin.

"For Colin." Neville said, as the hearse passed them and parked next to the gates that led up to the church.

Harry steeled his nerves as he started to follow his friends. "For Colin." He repeated, stumbling slightly as his toe caught the edge of the curb and he tripped up the pavement. He automatically glanced down in order to gain his balance properly and felt himself bump into someone.

"Sorry…" he started to stay, but stopped when he looked up to find himself looking into the angry face of Colin's younger brother, Dennis.

"So you should be you murdering freak."

Harry's breath caught in his chest and his blood ran cold at the amount of venom in Dennis's words and the white-hot anger radiating from the shorter boy's stance.

He looked up to see the whole of Dennis' family standing there staring at them, wondering as to who this stranger could be that was causing such a disturbance.

His attention was brought back to the shorter boy when he felt Dennis shove him in the shoulder.

"Didn't you hear me?" he said. "I told you to leave."

"Dennis…" Ginny stepped forward, trying to defend her friend and calm the bereaved Gryffindor down.

But Dennis shrugged her hand off his arm, and in the same movement swung back and let loose a wild punch that caught the side of Harry's mouth.

Harry back-pedaled, his feet slipping off the curb he had just tripped up and bringing them both crashing down into the road, Dennis pummeling Harry's injured ribs all the way down whilst The-Boy-Who-Lived-Twice tried to defend himself from his distraught friend without harming him in return. The DA surrounded the group, trying their hardest with varying degrees of success to separate the two without using magic.

"DENNIS CREEVEY!"

The shrill sound of what could have only been his mother's voice stopped Dennis' onslaught where no one else could. He sat back, letting loose one final and focused punch into Harry's left side, connecting soundly his injured ribs and causing Harry to curl up with a groan and a cough.

With that parting gift he stood up, brushing down his clothes and, without any acknowledgement towards his friends from school, made his way over to his parents. He apologised for his behaviour and explained his actions to his relatives by saying that Harry was the one to blame for Colin's "accident", his words cutting a deeper wound into Harry's chest than the one that had been left by Voldemort. Dennis didn't even look over his shoulder as he led his confused parents into the church, following the black coffin that was being carried away from the hearse.

The DA stood in shock as the rest of the mourners joined the procession into the church. Ginny knelt down and helped Harry sit up as he brought a hand up and swiped at the thin trail of blood at the side of his rapidly swelling lip.

"Wow." Seamus said, breaking the shocked silence. "I wasn't expecting that." He looked down at Harry. "He really got you good, Potter." He added. "You going to be alright?"

Harry accepted assistance from Neville and Ron as they each grabbed a hand and pulled him to his feet. "I'll be fine." He said slightly breathlessly as he pressed one hand against his throbbing ribs and used the other to dab at his face again.

He nodded to the church. "Why don't you guys go on in." he said, pointing to where the last of the procession was entering under the stone porch.

Neville shook his head. "After that performance?" he asked incredulously.

Harry looked at him. "He's just lost a brother." He pointed out. "He just wanted to lash out at something, find someone to blame. I'll stay clear to keep the peace but he needs his friends, even if he doesn't realize it yet."

Ron shook his head. "That still doesn't give him the right to sock you in the face." He said. "You effectively saved his life for merlin's sake."

"Harry's right." Hannah said against Ron's angry tirade, sliding one arm through Neville's. "He's probably so upset that he can't see the big picture right now. I'm sure, once today's over and he's had chance to settled down, he'll realize that Harry's not to blame."

Hermione frowned as she caught the shadow of guilt that fell across Harry's face.

"Just go in, Hermione." Harry said with a breathless cough before she could say anything about his guilt complex. "I'll meet you back at the Burrow later. Remember, today it should be about Colin. We're supposed to be here for him."

The others reluctantly started walking away at his assistance and Harry felt a soft touch on his arm, turning to see Ginny standing there.

"Go get yourself checked out with Madame Pomfrey." She advised, letting her hand linger for a short moment before stepping away. "You sound like you have a hole in your chest."

Harry nodded and then levelly returned her brother and Hermione's gaze as they stood in front of him.

"Go." He insisted. "I can look after myself."

Ron snorted and Hermione muttered. "That's debatable."

"I'll be back at the Burrow later, I promise." He said. "I'm not going to suddenly disappear. Not when I've got a trip across the world to look forward to." Harry smiled a little at his friends. "I'll go say goodbye to Colin my own way."

Ron nodded. "Okay, mate." He said. "But I think you ought to listen to Ginny and go for a check-up. You don't sound right."

Harry tried to calm down his asthmatic wheezing enough to reassure his friends, but failed as Hermione came up to give him a quick hug. "You ought to know by now you can't fool us." She said with a smile. "We'll see you in a couple of hours."

Harry nodded and watched as his friends walked away, taking strides long enough to catch up with Ginny before she entered the churchyard.

He stood for a few moments, at a loss as to what to do with himself before his fell on a pair of matching headstones in the graveyard. With a sudden compulsion he glanced around, making sure no one was about, before spinning a little and disapparating away.

He appeared in at the end of the main road in Godric's Hollow, the same place where he had appeared with Hermione on Christmas Eve, just before he had been attacked by Nagini. He walked up the street, casting a wary eye on the amount of flowers that had been placed at the base of the fountain of himself and his parents. He walked further up the road to where his childhood home had been and saw more inscriptions over the board near his gate. He climbed over the old gate, feeling the subtle wards wash over him and accept him as he walked up the overgrown path to the house.

He stood for a long while, ignoring the ache from his broken ribs as he imagined what the reasonably sized cottage had looked like when it was lived in and warm. Roses climbed wildly up the outside, and grew into the broken windows of the second floor. The front door was upright and secure, but it was apparent that it had been magically replaced just to stop people getting in by the look of the damaged hinges on one side. He turned his head slightly to one side, his eyes spotting the remains of a bricked path that ran around the side of the house.

He let his feet lead the way, and turned right around the house until he got to the rear garden. There was a long overgrown lawn there surrounded by a fence and woodland preventing overlookers from seeing in. The area was more than large enough for a small quidditch pitch, and Harry could already imagine spending summer afternoons there with his friends, messing around and relaxing.

He turned to look up at the back of his house and saw more blown out windows, but already he was imagining what life would've been like if he had grown up here. He could imagine himself, maybe with a younger brother or two, messing around on brooms. His mother would be standing by the open door that led through to the large, homely kitchen, laughing as his dad and Sirius joked around. He sighed, sitting on a low brick wall that had once contained a flowerbed, applying pressure to the ache in his chest as he tried to contain the ache in his heart.


	9. Chapter 8: To get away

Chapter 8: _To get away. _

A couple of weeks later, Harry found himself staring up at a large notice board, casting his eyes down the long list of arrivals and departures as he searched for their flight number. Beside him, Ron fidgeted nervously, his grip tight around his passport and his large rucksack at his feet.

"You alright?" Harry asked, his friend's anxiousness distracting him from his own search.

Ron's eyes darted to him before jumping back to the crowd around them. "How can you be so calm?" he asked incredulously. "There are so many people, and so much noise! How do they know where they are going? This place is so big!"

Harry chuckled slightly, the terminal they were stood in was twice the size of atrium at the Ministry of Magic. "I'm sure they are all used to it." He said, then tapped Ron's arm and pointed to where Hermione was waving at them from the other side of the room, several bits of paper in her hand. "Let's go."

Ron grunted as he lifted his bag and swung it onto his shoulder, then helped Harry with Hermione's luggage by taking one of the straps and carrying the rucksack between them. "I still don't understand why we can't just use Hermione's bag like we did all last year." He complained.

"Because travelling all the way across the world by aeroplane would raise a bit of suspicion with muggle security if we weren't taking any luggage with us." Harry explained patiently.

"So why can't we use a lightening charm? If it's all for appearance why don't we just carry a couple of empty packs and let Hermione carry that purse-thing of hers?"

Harry sighed. "Because we don't carry our luggage on board." He explained as they reached Hermione and piled their rucksacks between them. "We hand it over to them and they store it for us."

"Will we get it back?" Ron asked.

"Of course we will, Ronald." Hermione said, leaning in and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Harry could sense that she was trying hard to not be short with Ron and all his questions. Out of the three of them, Hermione was the only one who had travelled by plane before, but it was clear that Ron was the most anxious.

"I have the boarding passes." She said, and pointed to a moving walkway that led down a long windowed corridor. "And we check in down that way."

Ron stared with horror at the people pulling their luggage onto the large conveyor belt and letting themselves be carried away down to the next terminal.

"Is that thing safe?"

"Just don't think about it." Harry said, lifting Ron's rucksack and handing it to him. "Muggles are big on safety. If there was any danger at all it would have a big red sign on it telling you that it was dangerous."

He gently but firmly steered his friend into the queue of people getting on the walkway, and before his friend could hesitate had made him step onto it. With a little wobble, Ron gripped the handrail and stared with wonder at his feet. His eyes widened in terror as the end of the conveyor approached, but Harry and Hermione ignored his concerns as they bustled him off the other end.

He laughed with relief as he turned and looked back at what they had just done. "Brilliant!" he said.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry and started leading the way to the check in desks. "What do you think he's going to be like when he sees the plane?" Harry muttered as their friend prattled on next to them.

"I think I might have to stun him." She said. "Maybe we can pretend he had taken too many sedatives or something. Strap him to a wheelchair and wheel him on."

"Good plan!" Harry said. "But what happens when he wakes up? Ron waking up in a confined space, several thousand meters above the ground in a plane full of muggles…" he broke off with a snort and Hermione smiled in return.

"Yeah, you may have a point." She said, glancing back to where her boyfriend was following their footsteps, his head down and reading the details printed on his boarding pass.

It didn't take long to get through customs. Ron was placed in the middle of Harry and Hermione and told do to just as they did. He garnered a couple of strange looks when he was made to walk through the metal detector, and his anxious behaviour caused security to pull him to one side and frisk him, searching his pockets and jacket for anything illegal.

He almost shouted with alarm when one of the security guards pulled his wand from his pockets but was quickly calmed by Hermione, whilst Harry concocted a story about Ron having the mental age of a ten-year-old who lived in a fantastic world of wizards, witches and magical beasts.

The security guard smiled and surprisingly seemed to relate to Harry's story, telling Harry of his younger brother who also believed in a world of dragons and goblins.

Harry laughed uncomfortably as he helped Ron collect up his belongings and within a few moments the trio was off again, the security guard wishing them a good journey.

"Are you ready for this?" Hermione asked as they finally followed the other passengers and walked along the boarding corridor to the plane.

Ron gripped her hand reassuringly. "I've ridden a dragon. This would be like riding a child's broom."

"You keep on believing that, mate." Harry said, patting him on the shoulder as he felt his own heart rate increasing slightly as he caught a glimpse of the large plane they were about to board through a small double-glazed window.

Hermione glanced over her shoulder at him and grinned, somehow sensing his excitement from his voice.

Luckily for the trio, the ministry had managed to get them three seats together next to a window. Hermione and Harry immediately insisted Ron take the window seat, not to scare him but rather to keep him distracted during take off so that he wouldn't say anything non-muggle.

"You can get the window seat on the way back." Hermione muttered as Harry lifted her carry-sack and put it in the overhead compartment.

"I've ridden a dragon." He repeated Ron's words from earlier in a low voice. "And a Hippogriff. And a flying motorbike. I tend to get a pretty good view from all of them with no glass to get in the way. Let Ron enjoy himself with the view."

Hermione just gave him one of her patented looks as she took her seat, making herself comfortable and then starting conversation with Ron.

Harry took a deep breath and glanced around the other passengers as they stored their luggage and settled down. In a way he felt excited about the trip but under all the positive feelings he felt a dark shadow that struck a discord deep within his chest. Over the past couple of weeks Harry had received a great number of thank-you's and letters of appreciation, but it was the small number of people that blamed him for taking so long to defeat Voldemort had taken their toll. The look on Ginny's face she accused him of running away after the trio had announced their trip had caused the fierce animal that used to live inside him to cower away in a dark corner with its tail between its legs. The guilt was doubled with the knowledge that he wasn't only seeing this trip as a way to help Hermione with her parents, nor an excuse for a break, but rather a possible chance for a new life. He couldn't deny the fact that, as the plane started taxiing for the runway, this might be the last he saw of Britain and the idea of never coming back seemed a real possibility.

* * *

><p>The long trip passed without incident. Ron soon ran out of things to say, and became quickly engrossed with the in-flight movies and touch screen computer that showed how fast they were going and what country they were flying over.<p>

There was one moment of hilarity when he had returned from his first visit to the toilet and leaned over Hermione asking in a loud whisper why the toilet windows were frosted when there was no chance of anyone being able to look in them. The group of passengers that sat near them and overheard his comment couldn't contain themselves and, once the laughter had died down, Harry leaned back over Hermione and whispered back that maybe a wizard had designed the plane, knowing full well that there were more than just planes in the air.

Ron laughed and took his seat, opening a packet of peanuts and amusing himself by throwing them up in the air and trying to catch them, to Hermione's obvious discomfort.

When the trio eventually landed in Australia they walked through customs without a problem, Ron now knowing what to expect. As they walked through the departure gates, they saw a woman with sun-bleached hair tied back and dressed in a two-piece tan suit standing by the rails, holding a sign with the print of a lightning bolt on it.

"Subtle." Ron muttered as they approached.

"Hi," the woman said, lowering the sign and offering her hand to shake. "I'm Claire Wills, Liason Officer with the Australian Ministry of Magic. I'm going to be your point of contact whilst you stay here." She smiled at the three. "I must say it is an honour to meet you. I've heard a lot about the problems you've been having up there and how long you three have been working for to get it all sorted."

"I wouldn't believe everything you read in the papers." Harry said, slightly wary.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry." Claire said as she helped the three gather their belongings together. "I know by now that the media exaggerate everything by three! How was your flight?"

"Not too bad, thanks." Hermione said. "Long, but I think we're all able to make a start on the search. Have you made any headway with locating my parents?"

Claire nodded. "We managed to trace when they came into the country quite easily. They stayed here in Sydney for some time before heading west. We lost the trail in a place called Broome. Beautiful area, nice beach. I have a portkey waiting to take us to the area, and have a local Auror waiting to meet us to show us around. If you're happy to travel today, then we already have a hotel suite arranged for you there. You can then have a day or so to get over the jet lag whilst I liase with Auror Phil Tucker for next leg of the search."

Hermione nodded. "That sounds brilliant. Thank you so much for all your help."

"Don't thank me yet," Claire said with a small but genuine smile. "Thank me when we find them safe and well!"

The trio followed Claire out the airport and into a long black vehicle that was waiting for them. Once they had climbed into the car, Claire started rummaging in her bag.

"Aren't we driving anywhere?" Ron asked when the driver made no attempt to start the engine.

"No," Claire said. "We'll be taking the portkey direct from here. Just need to find… a-ha!"

She pulled an old sun hat out of her bag and held it out. "The window's are tinted on the car, no one will see us disappear." She explained.

Harry, Hermione and Ron reached out to grab the hat, and with a whispered word from Claire they felt the familiar sensation of being whisked away.

They appeared in what appeared to be exactly the same car, but when they looked out the windows the bustling airport atmosphere had been replaced with shorter houses spaced a far distance apart, with green gardens and all bathed in bright sunshine.

"Where are we?" Ron asked, rolling down the window as the engine started and sticking his head out to feel a steady breeze on his face, the breeze was tinted with the smell of the sea.

"Broome." Claire replied, putting the hat back in her bag. "The driver back at the airport will be arranging for your luggage to go straight to your hotel room. So you can have a choice to go straight there, or we can do a quick tour if you like?"

"Tour please." Ron said without consulting with Hermione and Harry, his head still hanging out of the window like an over-eager spaniel.

Claire looked to Harry for confirmation, and after asking Hermione with a silent look nodded his head. "A short tour would be great, thanks."

Claire sat with them in the back, pointing out the local shops and places they could go to get a decent meal.

As they rounded the headland and drove onto the coast road she leaned forward and asked the driver to stop the car, allowing her guests to get out and admire the view.

It was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to lower itself down towards the sea. Before them stretched a large beach of white sands, leading down into a crystal blue ocean that stretched for miles, nothing marring the horizon apart from the odd cloud.

"Wow." Ron said, shielding his eyes from the sun as he looked down the length of the seemingly empty beach.

Harry nodded in agreement, filling his chest with clean air and finally feeling some of the tension that had been a constant presence in his back for the past few years ease away slightly.

"This place is amazing." Hermione said.

Harry nodded again, thinking of nothing but stripping off his shirt and lying down on the clean, white sand and falling asleep in the knowledge that nothing evil would have followed him down here.

"How about we get you to the hotel?" Claire suggested after a few minutes. "Get you something to eat and sleep. I'll meet you in the morning and we'll have a sit down to arrange a plan of action."

Hermione nodded, and gently took Ron's hand to direct him back to the car. He seemed unable to take his gaze away from the view. Even Harry turned his head away reluctantly as he followed the others.

The next morning, Harry woke up in the room he was sharing the Ron. The sun streamed through the balcony windows and fell on his face, a soft breeze from the air conditioning brushing his fringe gently across his forehead.

He yawned and stretched, glancing across to see Ron still oblivious to his surroundings. Making a quick decision, he dove through his suitcase and pulled out some long swim trunks and a t-shirt, before quietly dressing then letting himself out of the hotel room and scouting out the quickest route down to the beach.

Within minutes he was stood at the top of a dune, staring out onto nothing but blue sea, and never feeling more at peace. He stretched his arms out slightly and took in a deep breath, much like he had the day before, feeling even more tension seep away into the sand between his toes.

He glanced back at the hotel, not wanting to venture too far away in case Hermione and Ron woke and Claire got in contact for the meeting. He walked a couple more yards down the dune and took a seat, leaning back on his elbows and planning on doing nothing more than listening to the sound of the waves breaking on the beach and watching a couple of school-ages youths playing around with a body-board in the shallows.

This was quickly becoming to be his most favourite place.

It must've been an hour or more before he heard footsteps moving quickly across the sands behind him and turned his head slightly to see Ron racing down the slope towards him. The tall red-head fell with a woop next to Harry, showering him with sand as he laid back, crossing his arms behind his head.

"This place is amazing!" Ron said with a grin. "Did you see the bathroom in the hotel? Its got shower heads coming out all down the wall, all you have to do is turn around once and everything is clean!"

Harry looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "I hope you washed a bit more thoroughly than that." He said. "I don't think Hermione would appreciate you not cleaning behind your ears."

Ron shrugged, closing his eyes against the sunshine. "This place is amazing." He said again, this time with a blissful tone.

"Don't forget that we have a job to do." Harry said, but his voice lacked conviction as he looked over the beach scene again.

Ron grunted in response. "Do you think we'll find them soon?" he mused. "Maybe if Hermione wants to spend time with them here we could, you know, spend a few days here on the beach before we head back? Sure beats freezing woodlands and rainy moors!"

Harry hummed in agreement. "I wouldn't mention it before we find Hermione's parents though." He advised. "But I wouldn't say no to staying another week here."

They sat in silence a short time before Ron took a deep breath as if he was going to ask something, but seemed to think against it and settled back into the sand.

"What?" Harry asked after Ron had done the same thing a couple of times.

Ron sighed. "I was worried, is all."

"About?"

"Ginny." Harry winced as Ron mentioned his sister's name. "I've been watching you two around the Burrow, and she hasn't been making it easy on you. One minute she looks like she doesn't want you out of her sight, the next she's pushing you away and accusing you of being the most selfish male on the planet. I know we've come all the way out here to help Hermione, but I can't help but think you were planning on making this a one-way trip."

"What makes you think that?" Harry said after a noted pause, not turning to his friend but silently confirming Ron's suspicions.

"Because I know the way you think, and this would be like getting a new start. Australia is such a big place, you could live here without having to worry about things getting in the paper, or people going out their way to bump into you in the street." He pushed himself up and leant on his elbow. "And look at this place. We've been here less than a day and even I can see the benefits of living here. It's gorgeous. You haven't been yourself since that night. You made a deal with Hermione to go through the paces and have kept up your public face, even around us, but your heart hasn't been in it. We've both been really worried. But here, you're already coming back to life."

Harry stayed silent for a time, his mind drifting back to when he had met Dumbledore on the Kings Cross platform in his mind. He had taken the choice to live his life, but would the opportunity to be "Just Harry" outweigh the reality of leaving all his friends and those he risked his life for back in England.

"I won't deny I haven't thought it." Harry said in a low monotone, trying the best way to find an answer that would satisfy his friend. "It would be great to just get away and find myself again, without any dark shadow on my soul, or expectations to protect everyone. I don't think I could stay away forever, I'd miss you guys too much, but I was thinking for a year or two."

Ron nodded, understanding what Harry was saying. "Hermione won't be happy." He said. "She was concerned you might think about making that sort of decision. Ginny will probably flip out as well, but she'd be the one to blame for not coming to speak with you when you gave her the opportunity to. Mum would be… well, just mum, but I'm sure we could convince her to come to visit you so she can reassure herself you'd be okay." He paused a bit. "It's your choice, mate." He said, matching Harry's low tone. "Take your time here to think about it. I'll cover your back should you decide to stay. As long as I get visiting rights, of course!"

Harry felt his throat tighten slightly at his friend's offer and understanding. He smiled at Ron's attempt to alleviate the conversation slightly and nodded. "Thanks." He said, not able to bring himself to say anything more.

"We've found them!"

Harry and Ron jumped out of their quiet companionship to find Hermione running down the dunes towards them, wearing a knee length floating summer dress and clutching a large-brimmed summer hat to her head.

"Auror Tucker found them yesterday whilst we were settling in." She said breathlessly as she took a seat next to them. "They have set up a dentist surgery here, which cut out a lot of searching. We've even got a home address for them."

Harry examined his friend's expression closely, failing to see any excitement over the prospect of being reunited. "You seem a little concerned." He stated, and Ron immediately sat up properly to face his girlfriend.

"Well, it's just that if they've set up a new business here, what if they don't want to come home? What if they don't want to know me anymore after what I've done?"

Harry caught Ron's gaze, remembering his friend had shared Hermione's concerns about not wanting to return to England and shook his head. "Once their memories are back then I doubt they will push you away, Hermione, especially once you've explained what has happened. However, in terms of wanting to leave this place and return back… well, that will be up to them. It is nice here."

Hemrione hesitated a moment, registering his words before saying, "If you're happy to, then I would like to go around there this afternoon to speak with them. I know the aurors here have offered to reverse the obliviate I put on them, but I think I'd feel happier doing it myself."

"Do you want us to come with you?" Ron asked.

Hermione hesitated. "I think I want to go myself. Reintroduce myself. I'm hoping that my presence will trigger some memories."

"You know that isn't how memory charms work." Ron said. "Besides, if they did remember anything about you, that would imply that you didn't cast the spell right. You are the most gifted witch around, Hermione, that just wouldn't have happened."

Hermione winced as he gave her the compliment. "Sometimes I wish I did get things wrong occasionally."

"We don't." Harry said, shifting a little closer to her to offer her some support. Ron had taken up boyfriend position on the other side, one arm casually resting behind Hermione.

"Will you two wait nearby." She asked, linking her fingers with Ron's and looking at him. "Just in case…?" her voice broke off but Ron nodded reassuringly.

"I'll always be there for you." He promised, and Harry diverted his attention as they shared a long kiss, finally getting to his feet and brushing himself free of sand before walking back to the hotel to source a drink.

A couple of hours later, the three of them approached a line of detached houses with quaint gardens and short driveways.

"Here." Hermione said as they eventually stood outside. "This is the address Claire gave."

"Do you want us to wait here?" Ron asked, clearly wishing that Hermione would let him come in with her.

Hermione glanced between him and Harry, seemingly undecided.

"Take him in with you." Harry said. "I'm happy to wait out here. If we all go in it might be a bit much."

Hermione smiled at him with thanks. "I'll send Ron out with any update." She said. "Or you can go back to the hotel if you like? I don't know how long we'll be, and I don't want you waiting for too long."

Harry nodded. "I'll wait awhile. If I'm not here I'll be sat in that little café next to the hotel where we had breakfast this morning."

Ron nodded and took Hermione's hand as she led the way up the neat driveway to the door.

Harry watched them knock on the door and it opened to reveal Hermione's mother. He watched as Hermione talked for a couple of minutes, Harry was just out of hearing range but it was clear she was introducing herself and Ron. Before long, Mrs Granger had opened the door further and invited them in with a confused frown, calling over her shoulder for her husband as she closed the door behind them.

Harry waited for a short time. Taking in the peaceful surroundings with the soft sound of birds in the trees. He couldn't hear any cars or voices, and even though he couldn't hear the waves there was a sense in the air that made you aware that the ocean wasn't ever that far away.

He sighed in contentment at the solitude, looking over his shoulder at the house one more time before strolling off down the road to the hotel. He soon settled himself in the café with an ice cold thick shake, and spent the next hour people watching as tourists and locals alike walked along the sea front heading the beach.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't see Ron walk up to his table and take a seat, reaching over and taking a long quenching mouthful of Harry's second drink before heaving a sigh.

"How did it go?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Not well." Ron replied. "Hermione wanted a few moments alone so I left her up by the beach. We were only there fifteen minutes before her dad threw us out. I think Hermione was hoping that it would go smoothly, but her dad was so aggressive towards us. He even grabbed my arm to get us moving quicker."

"What about her mum?"

Ron frowned. "I think she would've been more accommodating." He said. "She certainly didn't shout at us. Nor seemed upset at what we were trying to say. She just seemed…. thoughtful."

"Do you think that, if we can get to speak with her alone, she would listen to the truth?"

Ron shrugged. "Hermione got herself all wound up, even suggested that we just leave them here, happy and ignorant of her existence. I managed to convince her that we should run it past the Ministry here, that maybe they could assist us with getting them into an appropriate atmosphere to reverse the spell."

Harry nodded, swirling his straw around in his drink before pushing it towards Ron who was looking at it eagerly.

"Why don't you take Hermione out for a walk this afternoon?" he suggested after a while. "I was speaking to the waitress here for a bit, and she said the sunsets here are breathtaking. If you take her along the beach then you should be able to see the hotel on your way back, so there is no way you could get lost. Meantime I'll try to get hold of the Ministry and see what they can arrange."

Ron looked at his friend and smiled. "Are you sure? I mean, I don't want you feeling left out or anything."

Harry smirked. "I'm sure I won't be missed." He said. "Besides, we're both here to help Hermione, and you are in a much better position to help console her which leaves me to do the footwork and research with the Ministry."

"Thank you." Ron said, quickly slurping up the last of Harry's drink before standing up. "Will we see you at the hotel later?"

Harry smirked again. "I'm sharing a room with you, Ron." He reminded his friend who blushed. "So make sure you walk the lady home before coming back. I don't want any nasty surprises tonight!"

Ron blushed slightly, but took Harry's comments with a grin. "I'll see you later then" he said, before striding off back up the beach to where he had left Hermione.

Harry continued to sit at the table a short time, ordering something small to eat for late lunch before paying his bill and walking to the Granger's home. He approached the door, taking in the well cared for garden and the weed-free path, before knocking on the door and waiting for it to be answered.

Mr. Granger answered the door, and the look that he shot at Harry clearly showed that Harry had interrupted something.

"Good afternoon, sir." He said. "You probably won't remember me, but I am a friend of Hermione's. She came around to speak with you a short time ago?"

Harry hesitated, waiting for some sort of acknowledgement from the older man, but when he received nothing but the cold stare he steeled himself and continued. "I'm not too sure how much she explained to you, but I am the reason for all the confusion, and for her doing what she had to do. I would like to sit down with you and explain a few things. If you need to put the blame on someone then I'm the one that should be at fault, not Hermione, she just wanted to keep you safe."

Hermione's father just continued to stare at Harry, but slowly he opened the door. "The whole situation is rather un-believable." He said as Harry stepped in through the door into the hall. "And I am close to calling the police to report your extravagant claims. But…" he hesitated slightly, and Harry could see something amounting to confusion and hurt in his eyes. "But something rings true about what the young lady said earlier, and no matter how much my mind tries to convince me it is a pile of codswallop, my heart wants to hear more,"

Harry nodded. "That would be because of the spell she cast on you." He explained as he followed him through the house and out onto the rear veranda. "There is a very large part of your memories that she has blocked off. I can remove the block if you'd let me. At least then you and your wife would remember everything that was taken away. What you decide to do after that, well, that is your choice. But I'd like you to remember that everything Hermione did, she sacrificed to help me. She shouldn't be the one held to blame."

Mrs Granger, who had been sitting on the veranda had caught the last of the conversation. "To get these memories back, would we need surgery? Or some sort of injection?"

Harry shook his head. "I can return what was taken from you with magic."

Mr Granger laughed, before taking a seat next to his wife. "What, you just wave your magic wand and everything is fixed?"

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand, watching the Granger's expressions of disbelief as he held the Elder wand up for them to see. "I will wave my magic wand." He said. "But all it will do is bring back your memories. What Hermione did was quite extreme, she took away 16 years of your life. You've travelled to the opposite side of the world and set up a new life without her. When it comes to remembering and allowing your daughter to return, that will be up to you."

Mrs Granger's expression softened at his honesty, but Mr Granger kept his eye on Harry's wand. "This all seems so absurd." He said. "Magic isn't even real." But Harry could hear the doubt in his voice.

Harry raise the wand slightly, keeping the end pointed away from the Granger's, and with a slightly raised eyebrow he silently asked permission to demonstrate.

Mrs Granger reached out to take her husbands hand, then nodded, and Harry swished the Elder wand, causing a number of butterflies to flutter from the end.

Mrs Granger gasped, her free hand flying to her face and tears welling up in her eyes. Harry cautiously met Hermione's dad's gaze and the older man bit the inside of his cheek slightly before speaking.

"And you say you can bring back the memories? All of them?" he said. "Surely that would be better performed from someone with more experience? It can't be an easy spell. I refuse to believe that the mind is something that should be played with in such a blasé manner."

Harry kept his face straight, but could see where Hermione had gotten her questioning and cautious mind from.

"My wand is rather… unique." Harry said. "It doesn't work the same way as other's do. Just be assured that all your memories would be returned once I remove the spell that's blocking them."

"Can you do it today?" Mrs Granger asked.

"If you'd like." Harry said with a nod.

The Grangers looked at each other, having a silent conversation that only people who have spent time together could have. With a small nod Hermione's father turned and looked back at Harry. "Do it." He said.

"It would probably be best that we go inside." Harry said. "I imagine that it will be a bit of a shock having so many memories return so quickly. I think you should be sat in a place where you can rest if need be. Besides," he added, glancing around the open garden and houses that flanked either side. "There is a statute of secrecy that prevents me from doing magic around mugg… uh, non-magical people."

The Grangers silently stood, making their way back into the address with Harry following. Taking a seat next to one another on the large sofa, they looked to Harry who raised his wand and, with another nod of permission from Hermione's father, he closed his eyes, willing the Elder wand to return the Granger's memories to them with minimal pain or discomfort. He waved his wand towards the sofa, feeling the comforting warmth of magic in his palm, then opened his eyes to find the couple clutching their heads, not in any apparent pain or discomfort, but just overwhelmed by the sheer number of memories that were returning.

Harry took a seat on a nearby chair, silently remaining in the room in case anything further was needed. As he watched the amount of emotions the couple were experiencing he wondered if the Elder wand would be able to help other people with mind conditions, Neville's parents foremost in his mind. If their minds had been damaged by magic, Harry wondered if there was a way that magic could help restore them.

"Harry."

Harry broke free from his musings to see Mr Granger looking at him. Next to him Hermione's mother sat with tears had been running freely down her face but Harry couldn't work out whether she was angry or sad about the situation.

"We want you to leave." He said, his voice filled with emotion.

Harry bit on his bottom lip and nodded, standing up and putting away the Elder wand that had been resting in his hand. "Would you like me to pass a message onto Hermione at all?" he asked before making his way to the door.

The Grangers looked at each other, and he could see the anger and hurt in Mrs Granger's eyes as she looked at him. "We will contact you at the hotel." She said. "Let you know what we would like to happen."

Harry nodded. "Please remember that none of this is Hermione's fault." He said. "I was the one that put her in danger, and she just wanted to keep you safe. If you need to blame anyone then…"

"Just leave."

Harry sucked a breath at the icy atmosphere that had descended on the room, a shadow seemed to fall across him even though the sun was still shining brightly outside and all the weight that had left his shoulder's when he had stepped onto the plane returned with all the force of a rampaging dragon. He muttered a small but heart felt "I'm sorry" before leaving the house through the front door.

He scuffed his feet against the pavement as he walked back to the hotel, the sea breeze rustling his hair as he approached the sea front. He stood for a long while, staring out over the dunes, thinking over what he had just done and hoping that it hadn't prevented Hermione from becoming a well-loved daughter once again. He glanced back at the hotel, thinking that he really should leave a message for her to explain what he had done before she tried making further contact with her parents. He walked with purpose to leave the message then returned to the beach, walking down the dunes a short way before taking a seat, leaning over his knees and watching other people enjoying the last of the warm summer's afternoon by playing in the water.

He had no idea how long he had spent sat on the beach. He had watched the sun set with a despondency that was insult to the magnificence of the view. All his emotions were shutting down and he was realising with increasing panic that he couldn't do it anymore. His recently healed scars ached, especially the new one on his chest, making it difficult to breath. He couldn't be Harry Potter. He felt a tear roll down his face as he realised his whole life had been one big mess. From the moment is parents had died, he had been pushed aside by his Aunt and Uncle, and once he had thought he had found a place he had been hunted by an evil mad-man, causing those close to him to die. Even trying to help the people he loved in the aftermath of the final battle was causing more problems.

He angrily swiped at his face and heaved a sigh, trying to restrain his emotions. Returning back to England to face his friends seemed too scary. He just didn't think he could face the looks on their faces; the admiration for something he didn't feel he deserved, and the blame that some families felt for their lost ones. It wasn't like he wanted to end his life, he had been given a second chance and he knew he was lucky to get it, but the prospect of returning home caused his heart to fail.

He shivered in the darkness, the sun had disappeared a long time previous and though it was warm, there was a cool breeze blowing up over the sand. He looked up at the vast sky, seeing the stars in all their glory without the haze and light pollution found in British skies. He knew the answers to his fears would be to stay away so that he couldn't cause any more pain to those he loved. He would break the news to Ron in the morning when he woke up, but felt that Hermione should have the chance to sort out her relationship with her parents before having the news broken to her.

With that choice made, Harry felt a small weight had been lifted of his shoulders and the feeling of calm that had descended on him whilst in the country started to return. He knew he would miss Hermione and Ron, and that he would feel bad when he watched them leave. But hopefully, in a few years, he would be rested enough to return home. With a sigh he pushed himself up from the sand, wincing at the stiffness in his limbs from sitting so still for so long, and walked back to the hotel.

* * *

><p><em>Hi folks... just as a bit of a AN to let you know that Harry doesn't spend the rest of his 19yrs in the wonderful country of Australia (never been there admittedly, so apologies for inconsistencies, etc, etc). Just thought I'd better tell you all in case you lost interest 'cause of concerns other characters would no longer be playing a part. Next update will be uploaded as soon as i write it! Kit x_


	10. Chapter 9: Homeward Bound

Chapter 9 _Homeward Bound_

Nearly three weeks later found Harry sat high upon a dune watching several brave surfers fight against strong winds and tall waves. He reached up and brushed some of his hair out of his face. It was late in the afternoon and temperature had turned cooler over the past couple of days, but even though the wind was blowing strong and cold and Harry was bundled up in a thick jumper he had taken off his shoes and socks and had buried his toes in the sand. It was peaceful, not a soul nearby, and no one who would be calling his name and claiming he was a saviour.

Hermione had spent the past two weeks with her parents. It had taken the Grangers a while to come to terms with what had happened and though they were sure there could've been another way they had accepted her back into the family. They had refused to return back to England, stating they were set up and comfortable where they were. Hermione was more than happy with the arrangement, promising that she would return to visit as regularly as she could, just happy that she had her parents back. She had liaised with the Australian ministry and they had agreed to set up an annual portkey, so that she could visit without having to waste time using muggle transport.

The Grangers had also met and spent time with Ron, welcoming him into the family as Hermione's boyfriend and finding his wonder at muggle devices and inventions rather amusing. They had allowed Harry into their homes on a number of occasions, though their attitude around him was one of confusion; unsure of whether they should be mad at him for what had cause Hermione to do what she did, or gratefulness for giving them their memories back with no side effects.

Their coolness towards him meant that Harry had spent a lot of his time by himself, whilst Ron and Hermione were at the Grangers. He hadn't minded and had, with some Ministry assistance, spent some time seeking out possibly properties to buy. He hadn't yet found one, and was still staying in the hotel, though had recently swapped rooms with Hermione so that she and Ron could spend some time together after he had inadvertently walked in to find them both sharing a shower one afternoon.

He turned his head slightly as he sensed footsteps behind him and smiled slightly as his friends walked up and sat on either side of him.

"Back to the circus tomorrow." Ron said, breaking the silence.

"Are you going straight back?" Harry asked.

Ron nodded. "We did think about making a detour on the way home, maybe stop off back in Egypt or somewhere, but I spoke to mum on the International Floo yesterday and she said there is still so much to be done. Hogwarts still needs a lot of work, as does Gringotts and the Ministry, and they're hoping to set up the school ready for the new year to start in September."

"Are you sure you aren't coming back?" Hermione asked and Harry tried to ignore the pleading in her voice.

Harry shrugged. "I want to stay," he said. "It's so peaceful not having anyone on my back. No dark wizards. No one calling my name. It feels like a clean slate. An opportunity to find myself."

Hermione bit a lip. "I'm worried about you, though." She said. "I really don't think you should be alone right now, not after what you've been through."

"I've been walking around by myself for the past two weeks, Hermione." Harry said. "It's been the best two weeks of my life, and you know I won't be gone forever. Just until I get myself back on my feet. I just need this break, Hermione. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Harry." Ron said. "We both know how you hate the attention, and you have no immediate family or anything to go back to. Other than Teddy of course. I guess we'll have to let Andromeda know that you won't be able to look after him like you said."

Harry frowned, sensing that there was something else laced in Ron's tone of voice.

"I'm not abandoning him." He said, trying to defend himself, though mentally kicking himself because he had forgotten to spare a thought about his Godson this past fortnight.

"Well, I'm hoping that the school will be up and running, and that we can return to complete our final year." Hermione said. "Molly mentioned that the castle was barely habitable. It would be a shame not to be able to go back. I'm planning on helping them with the rebuild once we're home."

Harry's frown increased but he didn't say anything.

"What do you think is going to happen with the Goblins?" Ron asked after a short time. "We didn't get a chance to publicly apologise to them before we left. Do you think they'll give us access to our vaults?"

Harry looked to him. "Has your family not managed to get into them yet?" he asked.

"To be honest, I didn't get a chance to ask mum." Ron said. "The ministry has been helping out where they can, and the family have been working so hard in repairing the damage that I don't think they've had time to check. Even George has been helping out with the school. Took him a while to gain the nerve to go back, and I don't think he's actually been in the main castle, but he has been helping Hagrid build up his hut again. But you'll need to get some access to money, won't you? To be able to buy or rent somewhere here?"

Harry sucked in a breath, he had a lot of money but he hadn't really thought about not being able to access it. He knew Ron's point was right though.

"And of course you'd have to find a place here to complete your education." Hermione said. "Even if you do get access to your vault, I can't see you doing nothing for the rest of your life. You've been given another chance to live, and I know you aren't going to waste that. You'll need to finish your NEWTs."

"Do you have any ideas what you want to do?" Ron asked.

Harry groaned and dropped his head into his hands, carding his fingers into his hair and tugging on it.

"I know what you are trying to do." He said, and turned to Ron. "And you told me that you understood why I had to stay away."

Ron nodded, "I know." He said. "But what's to say that we don't return for a year, finish school, get everything settled and then go traveling? We can take a year out and do a world tour or something."

"What if we don't get the chance?" Harry returned. "What if I go back, get roped into something that I don't want to do? What if I don't get to return here, to spend the time to find myself?"

"Harry, we have the rest of our lives." Hermione said. "Nothing is going to happen now. Voldemort's gone. Most of the inner-circle's been caught. Kingsley is doing well in re-establishing the Ministry in a way that actually works and McGonagall is doing the same with the school. There is nothing to get in the way of you living your life."

"So let me." Harry said bluntly, grabbing his shoes and standing up.

He walked away down the dune towards the ocean.

"Harry!" He turned slightly to look at his friends. "You'll come to the airport tomorrow to see us off, right?" Ron asked, trying to hide the concern and disappointment in his voice.

Harry nodded. "Of course." He said, then turned back and continued to walk away.

* * *

><p>The next morning found Hermione and Ron standing once more in Sydney airport, staring up at the screens for the departure time of their plane. They hadn't seen Harry that morning and had waited until the last possible moment before using the portkey to return to the airport in case he turned up to wish them a safe travel.<p>

Ron was quietly fuming about the fact his friend hadn't turned up, and though Hermione tried to placate him, it was clear she was also hurt by Harry's actions.

"Gate 4, right?" Ron said. Hermione nodded and picked up her luggage. She had given Ron the task of being in charge of the journey in order to distract him slightly, and so far he had performed well in the company of muggles.

They walked towards the line, checking in their luggage and walking through to the departure lounge. "We have about an hour before we board." Hermione said, setting her luggage near some chairs and checking her watch. "Do you fancy getting something to eat?"

"I'd recommend the Thai restaurant over there." A voice from behind them said.

Both of them spun around to see Harry standing there, a slightly sheepish expression on his face and his rucksack at his feet.

Hermione gave a squeal and jumped into his arms, squeezing him hard as he laughed in her ear.

Ron just looked at him. "You coming with us?" he said, and Harry nodded.

"Your attempt to remind me of all the things I am still responsible for gave me a massive guilt trip." He said. "I spent all night on the beach thinking about it. You were right. I can't abandon Teddy. I need to get the Gringott's vaults sorted out, if only to set up a trust fund for him so he can come to Hogwarts. And of course then I realized that Hogwarts will need to be fixed should he want to go, and the Elder wand can help with that. I was also thinking that the wand can help with a few other people that have been affected by the war." He looked to Hermione. "It returned your parents memories without a hitch so I was just wondering what it could do for Neville's parents. Whether the wand could help with them." He sucked in a breath. "I also need to make sure that you both are set up and settled. It's the least I can do for all the help and support you've given me over the past few years. Once all that is sorted, I'm going to hide the Elder wand. There is no need for me to keep it and so I'll hide it away and have someone obliviate me so that even I won't know its location. I think it would be safer that way."

Hermione and Ron just looked at him. "That's a lot to do." Ron said.

Harry nodded. "But I can't abandon everyone now." He said. "If I did that, then my self-discovery mission would've all been for nowt. I'd return home to find people won't know me. They'd probably feel bitter that I had ran out on them. And, even though I need my space and need some time to sort myself out, one thing is for sure and that is that I don't want to stay away for ever. I need to make sure there will be a place for me once I decide to come back."

Hermione nodded, tears in her eyes. "And, from an entirely selfish point of view, I'd miss you if you went away." She said.

Harry smiled. "It hasn't stopped me from getting a holiday home here though." He said "The Australian Ministry is going to hold it for me until the vault situation is all sorted. Its just a small one bedroom hut not far from the beach, but whenever I need to, I can just portkey back for a week and walk on the beach and do nothing. It is a bit of a compromise, but I hope you'll at least give me this."

"Of course, mate." Ron said, stepping forward and giving Harry a one-armed hug. "Now, shall we get something to eat before we take off?"

* * *

><p>Harry groaned as Ron jumped across his shoulders and ruffled his hair. "How can you still be happy after a 25 hour fight?" he groaned, hoisting his bag back up onto his shoulder and trying to straighten his posture.<p>

"I'm just happy to be off that bloody plane!" Ron said with a laugh.

Harry sympathized. Even though he had grown a few inches over the time they had been running Ron still towered over him, and squeezing his long frame into the tight seats on the return plane had meant for a rather grumpy Weasley.

"First class next time, maybe." Hermione said with a smile, her petite frame had had no problem curling up and using either Ron's or Harry's shoulders as a pillow had meant she had slept most of the way.

"If Gringotts release my funds." Harry said. "I wonder if Kingsley has made any headway with the goblins?"

"You could ask him yourself." Ron said, coming to a halt at the temporary barriers and pointing at the crowd in front of them.

Harry walked up beside his friend and frowned as he saw the towering dark figure standing next to the imposing image of McGonagall.

"What do you think they want?" Harry asked. "I didn't even tell anyone that we were returning today."

"Neither did we." Hermione said. "Something must've happened for them to be here waiting for us."

Ron's happy mood quickly disappeared. "What if something has happened to my family?" he asked.

Harry frowned as they walked their way through the gates towards the two adults. "This is a bit of surprise" he said as they neared, not too sure how to receive McGonagall's greeting and quick hug before shaking Kingsley's hand. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine, Harry." Kingsley said with a reassuring smile, though his facial expression didn't match that in his eyes.

Ron quickly picked up on this. "Is every_one_ okay?" he amended.

"Your family is fine, Mr Weasley." McGonagall replied, "They've all been working hard, sharing their time between the ministry and the school. Your mother has been particularly anxious of late, worrying that you were going to disappear off for another year."

"Not yet," Hermione said, "Though my parents have decided to stay in Australia, so no doubt we'll be making regular visits when we have the time."

The two adults nodded and Harry shifted his bag slightly. "So what do we owe the pleasure of you meeting us today?" he said suspiciously.

"We figured you would like a lift home." Kingsley said, indicating with his hand towards the exit of the expansive airport.

"We were planning on apparating." Harry said. "I appreciate not all of us have a license, but as we've been doing it all year anyhow I didn't see that would be too much of a problem. Besides, we didn't tell anyone we were arriving home today. How did you know when our flight was?"

"We contacted the Australian Ministry yesterday morning." Kingsley admitted, realizing that the trio weren't going to let up on their unexpected welcoming party and stopping so they were out of the way of the main crowds. "We figured you'd be out there for about a month and they advised us what flight you would be on. I can see you aren't going to accept anything less then honesty here, so I'll tell you outright. There have been several threats made against your lives."

The trio just stood still, waiting for the Acting Minister to elaborate.

"More specifically you, Harry." He added, and Ron snorted.

"Maybe you should've stayed in Oz." he muttered out the side of his mouth to his friend.

Harry turned to him. "You were the ones that gave me a guilt trip to return." He replied, childishly prodding his friend in the arm with a finger.

Hermione just rolled her eyes. "What's the threat?" she asked, trying to bring the topic back on focus. "It must be something major if you felt you had to catch us as soon as we stepped foot in the country?"

"There are a few Death Eaters that have teamed up with the Snatchers." Kingsley quickly explained. "We're still trying to work out who is leading the group, but needless to say that they aren't too happy with the outcome of the battle and seem to be focused on getting their hands on the Elder Wand and, in addition to that, the Stone in order to make things right again."

"They want to try to bring Voldemort back again?" Harry asked with a frown. "How did they even hear about the Stone?"

"We've discussed it and think that one of them made the connection between the wand being the wand of power from the Tale of the Three Brothers and come to the conclusion that you must've held all three in order to have survived."

"The Master of Death." Hermione muttered. Harry glanced at his friend and knew that what she said rang with truth. There were larger magicks at play than just luck when he had faced off with Voldemort and came back to life again. The Horcrux, his mother's sacrifice, his own sacrifice and the combination of all three Hallows had all come together as one to triumph that day. Harry felt like he had just been the vessel to bring them all together.

"What do you suggest we do?" Harry asked, rubbing at the large scar in the middle of his chest.

"Keep the Hallows safe." McGonagall said. "I believe that you still have the Elder wand, which is what they are really after. I've seen – or rather not seen - the cloak way too many times in my teaching career to believe that you aren't going to keep that to pass onto your eldest child when they attend Hogwarts. We have no knowledge of where the stone is at this time, but our largest concern is that you keep the three of them apart."

Harry nodded. "I hid the stone before I left for Australia." He said, remembering the afternoon when he had walked through the grounds of Hogwarts and buried it under the small headstone that he had placed over Snape's remains. He had figured at the time that so many people still thought badly of Snape that they wouldn't think of looking past the tomb of Dumbledore in their search for any of the Hallows. Besides, the Hallow was so small it would likely be mistaken for a pebble or small gem, though he had still put a spell over the area to alert him should anyone move the headstone and start digging around.

"I'm the only one who knows where it is." He indicated to the wand-holster that was on his wrist. "I still have the Elder wand with me, but my old wand has been fixed and works as good as ever. I want to keep the Elder wand a short time to help with fixing the school and, well, it's just a useful thing to have. I'm fully aware of the risks involved in having it taken off me though, so plan to hide it away and have Hermione obliviate me as soon as we think it's no longer of use."

"You've already decided to do that?" Kingsley said with surprise, thinking he was going to have a fight on his hands to convince Harry to separate the Hallows.

Harry nodded in return. "I'm going to keep the cloak, of course." He said. "It might not have helped my mum or dad, but it's certainly kept me hidden from death all this time. Hopefully it will continue to do the same."

He shifted nervously again as he saw his old teacher's eyes fill up with tears of pride, and the Minister also nodded his head in agreement.

"It is clear that the Hallows chose the right person." He said. "Too many people would be tempted to abuse the power they give and use them for their own gains."

Harry shrugged. "I've seen what power can do in the wrong hands." He said, "And I thought that is what we're trying to get away from with this fresh start. Besides, my use of the Hallows have not been completely selfless. I got to see my parents, Sirius and Remus one last time. Hermione's parents have been fixed with no adverse side-effects. And I aim to help the lives of a couple more people before I hide it away for good."

Kingsley nodded. "In which case just keep both wands near you, just in case. We'll keep you updated with any new intelligence we get, and if at any point you want extra protection, all you have to do is ask and it's yours."

Harry nodded. "Thank you." He said. "But I want everything to go back to as normal as possible. I want to keep a low profile, but I don't want to hide away anymore. I'm sure you can understand that?"

Both Kingsley and McGonagall nodded.

"What about the Goblins?" Hermione asked. "Have they been placated yet?"

Kingsley gave a laugh and shook his head. "What a bloody nightmare that was!" he said with a smile. "But they have finally released your vaults, and given the Ministry access to a lot of vaults that had been commandeered by the Death Eaters for their cause after a promise of a healthy donation to help fix the damage to the bank. Neville has returned the Sword of Gryffindor, though the Goblins know we have no sway over when and where it appears. We have signed an agreement that it will always be returned should it appear in our possession. We've even offered to provide another dragon to replace the one that escaped but, upon request from Charlie Weasley, there are going to be a number of welfare conditions put in place to make sure they live in more acceptable conditions. The Ministry is going to use the rest of the money to help fix up the damage to Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, as well as providing support for families that lost a family member throughout the war. It appears that additional funds have been transferred from the Black family vault into the Potter's, so it might be worth putting aside a day or two to go down there to work your way through what you'd like to keep."

Harry grimaced. "Are you sure that's not just a ruse to lock me up down there?"

Kingsley shook his head. "It's taken a bit of negotiating, but we've managed to convince them that your only intention was to get the Horcrux which, in the long run, has helped their business more now Voldemort is dead. The grapevine has also been working hard and they heard of how you treated Dobby when he died, and your caring nature in general has done a lot to sway them back into a normal level of business, as did your final sacrifice which did hit a bit of a publicity peak whilst you were away, I'm afraid. You'll probably get a lot of stares when you go in, but you should be at no risk of harm. If anything, some of the goblins actually want to acknowledge you three as hero's, but daren't say anything public about it."

"That's a relief." Hermione said, and nudged Harry's elbow. "It means you can pay for your holiday home now." she added.

"Holiday home?" McGonagall queried.

"My parents have settled in a lovely place called Broome." Hermione explained. "We've all fallen in love with it and when things are sorted and after we've convinced Harry to sit his NEWTs then we'll probably be disappearing out there quite regularly."

"You three certainly deserve it." Kingsley said. "Now, shall we get you back to the Burrow? I'm sure Molly will be thrilled to have you home and under her wing again."

Harry and Hermione smirked as they followed Ron out of the terminal, finding an alley out of sight of the muggles the five of them apparated away.

* * *

><p>The greeting at the Burrow was just as loud and emotional as Harry expected. Mrs Weasley was in her new, revamped kitchen already baking when the three of them walked up to the stable door, backpacks over their shoulders and large grins on their tanned faces. She burst into tears when she saw how relaxed they looked after their time away, and bustled them into the kitchen and sat them at the table to hear about their travels.<p>

It was soon evident that the house was empty except for the Weasley matron. She advised the group as she poured some tea that the rest of the family were working down in Diagon Alley, working hard to repair all the damaged shops and create them into properties ready for new businesses to move in. Fleur was apparently in charge of assisting Ollivander, who was still recovering, in sorting and categorizing all the wands that hadn't been stolen or damaged during his kidnap. Bill was back in Gringotts, and Charlie and George were trying to recover all they could from the joke shop.

"Is he going to re-open?" Harry asked, knowing that he would happily put in some time to assist the lone twin if he wanted it.

"I think he is still undecided." Molly said sadly. "He is doing so much better since you took him away that time." She said to Harry. "He refuses to say where you went or what you said, but it certainly helped him with his grief. I think he wants to re-open the shop in memory of Fred, but fears that he's only half as fun without his brother."

Harry glanced up at the Weasley clock and realized that Fred's name had been removed and hung on a hook next to the central feature with his picture hung next to it. He sighed slightly as he wished he could make things easier for George, but not even the Elder wand could fix the hole that Fred had left behind.

"Well, we'd be behind him all the way." Ron said. "I could even help out after school if I go back. I mean, we're adults, even if we are returning for classes it doesn't mean we have to stay there. I could even become a partner in the shop."

"You'll have to be careful, Ron." Hermione said. "Just because you want to help him doesn't mean that you should give up opportunities that you want to do with life. I'm sure we can all help, but do you really want to give your life over to running a shop like that?"

Ron shrugged. "To be honest, I don't really know what I want to do anymore." He admitted, being surprisingly open with just his friends and his mother in the room. "I did want to be an Auror, but now I've had my fair share of dark-lord hunting I'm not too sure I'd want to do it for the rest of my life."

"I don't really think there are that many Death Eaters left." Molly said, her hands around her mug and sitting surprisingly still at the table with the trio. Harry was so used to seeing her bustling around after one of her children or a guest, it just seemed strange to see her calm and relaxed and enjoying a cup of tea. "A lot died in the battle, Kingsley released a final count a couple of weeks ago. The rest have nearly all been rounded up."

The trio exchanged looks, the recent warning from Kingsley and McGonagall fresh in their minds. They silently agreed that they wouldn't concern Ron's mother with the fresh information, not when things were slowly returning to normal.

"So what other options have you considered?" Hermione asked and Ron shrugged.

"To be honest, life got in the way of thinking about the future, or rather the threat to life did." Ron said. "Maybe I _should_ go back to school? McGonagall mentioned something before we left about new subjects, maybe something will catch my eye. If not, I could always apprentice in the ministry somewhere."

"Your father is helping Kingsley get everything back on track." Molly said proudly. "And Percy is right by his side, helping out with the paperwork side of organizing, your father was never all that great at getting things on record. I'll let your father explain properly when you see him, but there is a big push on re-evaluating the rights of magical creatures, with different laws and rights for each category of magical creature. There should be several jobs going by the time you've finished in school."

Ron looked to Hermione and nudged her shoulder with a grin. "S.P.E.W in action!" he said with a laugh.

Hermione nodded, her eyes alight with interest. "Do you think they will be apprenticing in that area of the Ministry?" she asked and Molly laughed at her eagerness

Harry sighed. "It's just a shame that Remus wouldn't be around to benefit from a change in werewolf legislation." He said.

"No, but I'm sure he'll be happy knowing that we are doing what we can to change things now we have the opportunity." Hermione said. "Molly's right, by the time that we finish school we're going to be in the perfect situation to go into the Ministry and run it the way it should be. We can come up with fresh ideas on how to approach things, the Wizengamot will not be able to ignore our suggestions, not after what we did in the final battle. And by "we" I mean Dumbledore's Army and all those that were there at the battle, not just us three."

Harry shook his head. "There are still going to be people that aren't happy about change." He said cynically.

Molly nodded. "The Wizengamot is an accumulation of the eldest and wisest wizards," she said, "Doesn't mean they have the most sense."

Harry agreed. "Dumbledore admitted the same." He said. "In the end, they are still human and still make mistakes. If they will accommodate new ideas that would be great. But I bet they won't be happy…"

"Well, we'll just have to convince them!" Ron said. "Peacefully, of course" he added at a look from his mother and Hermione.

"Let's just get through the next year." Hermione said. "Get good grades, keep ourselves out of trouble, and see where life leads us. If we decide to join the ministry after then we can only do what we can. We've survived a lot, and whatever happens I think that we'll never forget where we've come from, and that will affect everything we do in the future."

Ron snorted into his mug of tea. "Keep out of trouble?" he repeated. "Harry? No chance!" he said. "What is it you called yourself? A trouble magnet?"

Harry shrugged. "Just one chance to be normal is all I need." he said. "And I promise to behave!"

The four of them smiled over their mugs and spent the rest of the afternoon basking in each others company until the rest of the family returned home.


	11. Chapter 10: Miracles do happen

_Again, sorry for the long delay. Working through it all slowly, and always happy to recieve any feedback! Just as a warning, this chapter is a little soppy... it won't always be like this, should get more exciting next chapter! _

_Kit xx_

* * *

><p>Chapter 10 <em>Miracles do happen<em>

Harry sighed as he looked up at the finished school. He had spent the last two weeks working hard to help restore and replace enough of the building to make it usable again for the start of the school term which was due to open in less than a fortnight. It had been hard work but the fact that everyone, humans and elves alike, seemed so dedicated to bring it back to life meant that the almost finished article looked better than before.

He slumped to the ground, resting his back against the warm stone of Dumbledore's tomb and looked up the green, grassy slope to the front of the school. In the late sunshine it looked magnificent. A lot of the brick work was obviously new, but Harry knew it wouldn't be long before it blended in with the rest of the building.

The inside had been worked on just as hard as the outside. McGonagall had officially become instated as the headmistress and had already revised the previous curriculum, often taking Hermione's advice and that of the returning eighth years' to better suit the generation of today. She had redesigned some of the disused parts of the school, planning on expanding the curriculum and staff, introducing new subjects and utilizing several newly designed classrooms to help with this.

She had gotten rid of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, somewhat due to the lack of competent teachers in the past, but also because she didn't want to chance the "curse" that Voldemort had put on it when he had been denied the position all those years ago. Instead, she had created a Practical Defense class that would be taught in a large dueling hall with targets and practice areas alongside a small teaching area. Harry personally thought it looked very similar to the old DA room that the Room of Requirement had produced but on a much larger scale. Further down the hall – which was quickly becoming known as the DADA corridor, even though the subject had been disbanded, a Dueling theory classroom had been developed that would also cover historic battles and the politics behind them as well as practical techniques and theories behind spells and curses.

A lot of the other classes would remain the same, even Divination had been reluctantly passed as a course that would stay with Madame Trelawney returning as teacher. History of Magic would be taught by another teacher, though the classroom had to be relocated as Professor Binns threatened to haunt the class if he was removed from the teaching post. Harry had found it most amusing that the old ghost had become the most animated anyone had seen him for the best part of century when he had been told he was being relieved of his duties.

Finally, McGonagall had stated she would be developing a more in-depth Muggle studies class that would be mandatory the first three years, and educated not only those that were raised in a magical family about Muggles, but also educate those from non-magical families about the basics of the wizarding world. This would be supported by the history classes and would aim to shorten the divide between the magical and non-magical students and hopefully prevent pure-blood prejudice in the future.

It was an adventurous move, Harry mused whilst he sat in the sun with his legs stretched out, but he was sure that it would make a large difference in the long run as providing the classes were run properly and by respected teachers. He knew McGonagall was working hard with those that were left on the teaching team to ensure that this would be done by the start of the new school year, and now that the repairs had been completed he was looking forward to seeing what the new school year would be like.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard someone walk up behind the tomb and though his hand twitched he refrained from grabbing hold of the Elder wand that had thrummed with a desire to be used as the unknown threat approached. It made him frown slightly with the knowledge that he would soon have to hide it away to prevent himself from becoming hooked to the feeling of power that came with wielding it.

He looked up as a shadow walked around the white stone, and his frown turned to a smile as he saw Ginny standing there.

"I thought you'd be here." She said, walking up to him and dropping to the ground next to him. "It is probably the most peaceful place to be at the moment. The official reopening party will be starting in the Great Hall in a bit and everyone is beginning to crowd around."

Harry nodded. He and the youngest Weasley had been getting along a lot better the past few weeks, the excuse of working together on various aspects of the school meaning that they could get to know each other again without being thrown into awkward situations where the two of them would struggle to find something to say to each other.

Even so, the beast in Harry's chest jumped and growled every time she came near, and he wanted nothing more to grab her and kiss her like he had that time just before Ron, Hermione and himself had disappeared from the wedding. It took a lot to hold himself back from saying something stupid and sometimes he often found himself staring at her until Ron, Neville or another of the DA males would nudge him to get his attention back on the task at hand.

It was no secret between his friends that he still held strong feelings for the red-head, even more so that she had grown into a proper young lady in the time he had been away. In Harry's eyes she was beautiful and he hoped it would only be a matter of time before he could embrace his feelings, but he swore that he would let her make the first move, it would be her decision whether she wanted to be with the boy-who-lived-twice.

He smiled as Ginny settled. "I was just admiring the view." He said. "I can't believe we've managed to get it all done in time."

"I think the Elder wand certainly helped." Ginny added, before she started picking at the skin around her fingernails nervously. Harry tensed slightly, sensing that she was wanting to say something important.

"Harry, I think I need to apologize." She said softly, and when he looked up he saw her soft gaze staring at him sadly. "Ron, Hermione and George collared me the other day and made me realize what a bitch I've been to you. They told me how much you worried about me when you were away. About how much you had missed me. And all I've done since you've got back is push you away or treat you like you mean nothing to me." She took a deep breath. "I hope you realize that isn't true?"

Harry didn't say anything, trying to get his heart to stop pounding so quickly. He bit his lip and looked back at the school, hardly daring to hope that this was the moment he had been waiting for so long.

"I was just scared." She admitted, returning to playing with her fingernails. "I had kept faith all year that you'd be okay. That you and Ron and Hermione would all look after each other. And then you turned up, ready to save the day like always and it was the best feeling I had ever had and I knew everything was going to be over soon. But then Fred died, and the others died, and then I saw Hagrid carrying you up to the school and everything just stopped. You looked so broken and everything I knew seemed to break with you. I felt there was no chance for life, that there was no point in fighting anymore, and it wasn't just because you were the "chosen one" or the-boy-who-lived. It was because I couldn't imagine a life without you and I think it's taken me this long to realize you are real. You really did come back to life, and Voldemort really is gone and we now have the rest of our lives to live without anything getting in the way, or threatening us, or threatening our friends. We can rebuild everything just the way we want, and I honestly can't believe it's taken me this long to realize that."

Harry remained silent, letting Ginny say her piece. His heart ached for this conversation to be going the way he wanted and his breath hitched slightly when he felt something brush the fingers on his right hand. He looked down to see Ginny gently resting her hand over the back of his, but he didn't dare to look up into her face as he knew that his emotions would be clear to see.

"I am so sorry I've let this go on so long, Harry." She said. "And I hope that you'll give me a chance to show how much I regret not being there for you before. I know it hasn't been easy on you, and Hermione told me the other day how much you didn't want to come home when you were out in Australia. But I really have missed you and I really want to be there for you. To be with you. That is, if you want me."

Harry didn't say anything for a long time and he could sense the doubt begin to set-in in the girl next to him. Slowly he turned his hand around underneath hers until they were palm-to-palm and gently interlaced their fingers together.

He looked up to see Ginny's eyes sparkle with happiness and she suddenly leant forward to grab him in a hug. "I've missed you so much." She repeated, her chest hitching slightly as she tried to hold back her tears. "And I was so scared."

Harry frowned at her emotion, Ginny was as fiery as her hair but he had seldom seen her get upset. "Hey," Harry said finally, holding her tight and breathing in the smell of her hair. "It's all okay now. Like you said we have the rest of our lives and I was willing to wait as long as it took for you to be ready to give it another go."

Ginny sniffed slightly as she pulled away. "Really?" she asked.

Harry shrugged slightly, his hands still around her waist. "Well, I'm glad you came to your senses sooner," he said jokingly, trying to lighten the situation slightly. "But seriously, I also couldn't imagine a life without you."

He hesitated slightly. "I walked past you that night, on the way into the woods. I wanted to reach out and touch you, to say goodbye, to explain that what I was about to do was for you so that you could continue to live your life without fear. But I couldn't stop because I knew I wouldn't ever be able to leave you. But I thought about you. After my parents left and I stood in that clearing I thought about you, and Ron, and Hermione, and you were the last things I had in my mind as he cast the spell. It was you that made me strong enough and reminded me of why I was doing what I was doing. And it was my love for you that made sure that my sacrifice wasn't wasted. He was unable to harm any of my friends due to the sacrifice I made, and possibly with a little influence from the Hallows. And when I was given the chance to return, I knew it was the right thing to do. But then you walked away and I just didn't know what to do. Like you said, everything seemed broken and I had no idea how to fix it. I just wanted things to be normal straight away, but deep down even I knew that was impossible."

Ginny's eyes were full of tears but she nodded, understanding what Harry was trying to say. "I should've been there for you." She said. "I knew that you would find returning to normality would be hard, and I know not everyone liked the fact that you survived when so many of their loved ones died. I should've been there for you like the others were. But I wasn't. I don't think I was ready, or maybe I just didn't want to acknowledge what I still felt for you." She laughed, and swiped at the tears running down her face. "Look at me, bawling my eyes out." She said, but Harry reached out and grabbed her hand.

"You're beautiful." He said. "And I would do anything to make you happy." With that he leaned in and gently kissed her.

It wasn't a long kiss, just more of a pressing of their lips, but when he reopened his eyes he saw the twinkle in the dark eyes of Ginny and felt the beast that had been in his chest slowly dissipate in contentment. Ginny smiled in return and leaned in for another, pressing deeper into the kiss and wrapping her hands around his neck.

"So," she said when they broke apart several minutes later. "Can I be classed as the girlfriend of the boy-who-lived-twice?"

Harry frowned and stuck his fingers into her waist just below her ribs, making her squeak and jump away slightly.

"No." he said. "But I would be honored to be the boyfriend of Ginevra Weasley."

"That sounds just as good." Ginny smiled again and settled back against the white stone of the tomb, Harry's arm wrapped around her shoulder and holding her tight against his side.

"Just promise me you'll never leave me again." She said. "If this doesn't work out, fine, but I don't think I'd live if you just left me again."

"I promise. And if I had the choice, I'd never let you go." Harry said and Ginny hummed in contentment as they watched the sun set over the school.

* * *

><p>A couple of days later found Harry walking down the ward of St. Mungo's towards the closed ward where Neville's parents were kept. He had broached the subject with Neville a few nights before and explained how he thought that the Elder wand might be able to help their memories following the extended cruciatus curse that they had been subject to, and had asked his permission to see if he could help. Neville had agreed and Harry had decided that he would come down today, a week before returning to Hogwarts.<p>

He smiled shyly at the nurse who was waving enthusiastically at him as he pushed his way into the private room where Frank and Alice Longbottom had been placed a couple of days before so that Harry could have some privacy when he sat with them.

When he walked in he saw Neville sitting on the edge of his father's bed, speaking in a gentle voice and rubbing small circles into the back of his hand. Alice Longbottom was sat in a high backed chair near the window, staring out onto the small courtyard that was sheltered on each side by the hospital and full of more mobile patients enjoying the sunshine.

"Hey" he said as he walked through the door. Neville glanced up and smiled back.

"Hey." He returned then turned to his dad. "I'll be back in a bit." He said, then stood up and walked over to his friend. "They are quite confused about being in a private room." He told Harry, though Harry was dubious about the level of attention either of the curse-damaged couple had to their environment. He supposed Neville would notice the smaller details with his parents after spending most his life coming to visit them. "I have tried to explain what is going on, but dad hasn't really registered anything. But mum…" he pointed to where his mother sat motionless. "I actually think I got a proper hopeful response from her."

He looked to Harry nervously. "I know it sounds strange." He said. "But I honestly believe they are in there. I've always believed it, no matter what my gran told me. They can't communicate that well, other than the sweet wrappers of course, but there are just little things…"

Harry nodded. "It would take a son to know." He said and his friend smiled gratefully.

"Is there anything you need?" Neville asked.

Harry shook his head. He put his hand into his pocket and gripped the handle of the Elder Wand. He had come to know the wand intimately with all the work he had been doing around the school and, in lesser extent, in Diagon Alley. He came to realize that the wand had an acute awareness of what needed to be done around it. If it sensed magic or identified something that Harry would feel needed doing it would start to hum in his hand. The vibration would create a longing inside Harry, a desire to use the wand for the greater good, being it as large as rebuilding a school or as small as making his bed in the mornings. Harry could see how easy it would be to fall into the habit of using the Elder Wand for everything and becoming complacent with the responsibilities that came with it. It was almost with relief that Harry knew that he would soon be hiding the wand away, and regaining control of his own intents and actions.

As he stood looking at Alice Longbottom, Harry could feel the wand warm in his hand. It sensed how much he wanted to help his friend regain the parents he had grown up without and Harry felt the now-familiar feeling that it could help.

He walked up to Alice and squatted down in front of her until he was eye-level, and stared deeply into her eyes. Her attention had quickly moved from the window to his face as he had come across the room, and Harry watched as she now put her hand in her dressing gown pocket, rummaging around until she found what she was looking for. It was with a lump in his throat that Harry accepted the droobles bubblegum wrapper that she held out to him.

"You're the only other person she has offered one to." Neville said in awe.

Harry glanced up at him with a small smile before looking back to his mother. "I really don't know if anything will happen." He said aloud, both to advise her as well as to Neville who he knew was listening. "But it doesn't hurt to try, right?"

He almost swore that he saw her eyes soften slightly and he took a firm grip of the Elder Wand, but didn't draw it from his pocket. He had learnt that the wand didn't need flamboyant arm gestures to work like his holly and phoenix feather wand as it worked purely on intent.

Harry reached out with his other hand and gently placed it over the back of Alice's wrist. He closed his eyes, imagining that she was whole again, laughing and sharing life stories with her son. He imagined the feeling he had when he had seen his parents when his wand had connected with Voldemort's during the Priori Incantatem and also when he had looked into the Mirror of Erised. He imagined the love he felt towards them and how proud they had looked when they hugged him. He wanted to share that feeling with his friend, to let him know how it felt to have parents that were there to support you.

It felt like a lifetime before he reopened his eyes and when he did his gaze immediately met that of Neville's mother, tears filling her eyes as she smiled at him. She reached out with her free and gently cupped his face.

"Thank you" she said, her voice sounding like honey. Harry heard a gasp that almost sounded like a sob behind him and Alice looked up over his shoulder. "My son!" she exclaimed, opening her arms.

Harry pushed himself to his feet, staggering slightly at the light-headedness he experienced. No one else in the room noticed and he watched as Neville hugged his mother properly for the first time since he was a baby. He looked up to Frank where he lay in bed and noticed that he had turned his head to watch the event, even though there was still no facial expression showing on his face.

Harry walked carefully over to the bed, his head feeling better after the initial swoon but still feeling a little hazy. He sat on the mattress and rested his hand over Frank's arm, just like he had with Alice. He closed his eyes once more, the feeling of being loved coming to him a lot quicker than before.

It seemed to take less time on this occasion, but when he opened his eyes he noticed Neville and his mother both standing near him. He glanced down to Frank and saw that there was now interest in his eyes and recognition for his wife and son, though it was evident that his recovery had not been as miraculous as Alice's.

"I'm sorry." Harry said, glancing up at his friend. "I guess there was too much for me to fix."

Alice shook her head as she came up to stand closer to him, "You have done more than we could've ever asked." She said, leaning down and pressing a kiss to her husband's head. Frank clearly smiled at her and raised his hand with a clumsy movement and directed it towards his son, though didn't make any effort to speak.

Harry smiled in return, and accepted the clap on the shoulder from Neville who looked too choked up on emotions to be able to do anything else.

He went to stand up again in order to leave the family to get to know each other once more, and immediately felt the world tilt around him. He felt strong arms catch him as he fell and he let everything go black.

"You're making this a habit!" Neville said with a smile when Harry finally felt strong enough to open his eyes. Harry grinned sheepishly back up at him.

"Sorry." He whispered back. He looked up to where Alice and Frank were looking down at him with concern. "I'll be okay though." He said a little stronger and pushing himself up. "I really ought to go and let you three get to know each other again."

Neville shook his head. "Let yourself recover first. Do you want me to call Hermione or Ron to come help you home?"

Harry shook his head. "I'll just go sit in the canteen a little while. I'll be fine, I promise."

He took Neville's hand to assist standing up. He had to take a few deep breaths before nodding that he was steady on his feet before his friend would let him go. Harry smiled at Frank and Alice before saying his goodbyes.

"I don't know if you knew, but I am your godmother." Alice Longbottom told him as she pulled him in for a weak but heartfelt hug. "Maybe we can meet up sometime for a family dinner." She glanced to her son, and then reached out to brush her husband's fringe across his face.

"I'd like that." Harry said with a smile then made his way to the door, gently closing it behind him before taking a deep breath and sinking heavily to one of the chairs that lined the corridor outside the room.

He dropped his woozy head into his hands and suddenly felt rather emotional. He had saved Neville's parents. Granted, Frank would obviously never be the man that he had, but Harry didn't doubt for a second that he would soon be able to find a way to communicate and also be up and about and walking before too long. And Alice, Harry could sense she was still weak from the years of doing nothing but walking from her bed to her chair, but she was already forming full sentences and able to initiate full conversations with her son.

Harry felt a brief thought brush across the front of his mind and immediately felt the wand begin to warm in his pocket. He frowned, knowing that the thought that had crossed his mind was to see his parents once more. Something inside him was telling him that it was possible, that by being in possession of all three Hallows he would be able to cheat death completely. Not just by surviving himself, but by bringing his parents back from the dead. And not only his parents, but Sirius, Remus, Fred, and all the others that had died.

He sucked in a breath as he felt his heart racing and pulled his thoughts into check. When would it stop? If it was possible to bring his parents back, which the wand's response told him was entirely possible, how would he be able to explain to others how he could make the miracle of life happen? And how could he justify bringing back just those he loved rather than everyone who had died in the past war? How could he say no to those people for which bringing back their loved ones would just not be in their best interest? And those he brought back from the dead, would they forgive him?

Harry shook his head slightly, pushing aside the dizziness and made the decision. He felt the wand go still and cold in his pocket as he stood up, almost as if it could sense what he was about to do.

He walked steadily to the apparition point, feeling his strength return slightly by the time he had reached it. He hesitated just a moment, picturing his destination in his mind before spinning on the spot.

An hour later he walked up to the garden path to the rear of the Burrow, seeing his friends sat around the garden table with glasses of fresh lemonade in their hands. Ginny leant forward to pour him one but he stayed standing as he took the glass from her hand and took a couple of long sups.

"How did it go?" She asked as he drank.

"Really well," Harry said. "Alice is already up and talking, I don't think Neville's dad is ever going to make a full recovery, but he seems to be a lot better than he was."

"Oh, Harry." Hermione said, standing up and running around the table to give him a hug. "That's amazing. How's Neville?"

"Over the moon." Harry replied. "His grin was the largest I've ever seen. I don't think I've ever seen him so happy."

His friends grinned back in response.

"Why don't you sit down?" Ginny asked, pulling out the chair next to her. "You look pretty knackered."

Harry nodded, "I did use up quite a lot of magic." He admitted, but he looked to Hermione before taking a seat. "Do you remember what we talked about that morning I fixed up the Burrow's kitchen?"

Hermione frowned momentarily before nodding hesitantly. "About the wand?" she prompted.

Harry nodded. "It is time." He said, looking to his friends. "After healing Neville's parents it took hold of me briefly, made me think I could do anything." He looked back to Hermione. "It's hidden. It's gone. I just need to forget where I put it."

Hermione looked at him, a mixture of surprise and pride on her face.

"Are you talking about the Elder wand?" Ron asked. "What do you mean it's gone?"

"I can't trust myself with it." Harry admitted. "Being in possession of all three Hallow's is a huge responsibility, and I don't trust myself not to slip up at any point. The Cloak is an heirloom, a link to my father that I don't want to get rid of. The stone will only harm the person who foolishly thinks it will bring back the dead. The only Hallow that poses a great risk is the wand, so I've hidden it. Even if someone disarms me and the Wand transfers it's allegiance to another owner, if they don't know where it is…" he let his explanation drift off and was happy to see understanding in his friend's faces.

"I admire you for doing it." Ron said. "But still think you're more than a bit nuts, mate." He said.

Harry shrugged. "Rather nuts than power-hungry" Harry replied, he turned to Hermione. "Can you do it? Can you remove the memory of where I hid it?"

Hermione nodded, "Shall we go inside?" she suggested. "Less distractions in there, and you actually look like you can use a lie-down."

Harry nodded and gave his girlfriend – he didn't think he'd ever get tired of calling Ginny that – a quick kiss on the forehead before leading Hermione inside and up to the room he was temporarily sharing with Ron.


	12. Chapter 11: Back to school

Chapter 11 _Back to school_

The start of school was a momentous occasion for Harry. He had happily paraded onto the platform hand-in-hand with Ginny and was surrounded by his friends. He had laughed with them and greeted those he hadn't seen for a while with either a hand-shake or a hug. Other than a small contingent of media standing by the platform entrance trying to get a decent photo of the boy-who-lived-twice, the boarding on to the Hogwarts Express was probably the most enjoyable Harry had ever experienced.

There was a large number of Harry's year returning to finish their education. When McGonagall had sent out the letters offering them a chance to return, many had realized just how much they had missed over the past few years, especially the last year where many muggle-borns had been running for their lives and those actively against Voldemort spent a lot of their time hiding away to prevent themselves from being tortured by the Carrows.

The returning Eighth Year, as they were calling themselves, filled most of a carriage by themselves and happily wandered between cabins discussing what the new school year would be like. Neville had been given the honour of becoming head boy and Hannah Abbott had become head girl. Both had been deeply involved in keeping people safe and hopes high the previous year and already had the respect of the returning students. When the media had asked whether or not Harry had expected himself to become head boy Harry had just shrugged, telling them he was happy to have a year off.

That didn't mean that he was completely free from responsibility; McGonagall had approached each of the returning eighth year with offers of extra roles and positions. Some, like Hermione, had taken them on without question. Others had declined, stating that they would like to focus on the education they had missed. Harry had agreed to help continue the repairs around the school and also to sit on a student review meeting every now and then to assess how the well the new subjects were going. It didn't escape his attention that McGonagall's insistence of his involvement was most likely to endorse the changes with his influence as the boy-who-lived-twice.

Ron had done the same, as well as taking on the joint task of getting Quidditch up and running again. Ginny had taken the captaincy role after the remaining team members – including Harry and Ron – had voted her in once she expressed an interest in becoming a professional Quidditch player. Ron had looked like he was going to protest against this, but he had grown so much more mature over the past year and he could see how it would benefit his sister in her final year to bring the team to glory. He had also become passionate about expanding the Quidditch games, liasing with Dean about muggle games and races that could be converted into something students that aren't already in a team could get involved with, so he was planning on putting all his focus into that.

Harry sighed as he sat back in his seat, allowing the general chatter of his friends to wash over him. He had his arm loosely around Ginny's shoulders as she scribbled down possible game-plans in a small leather bound book. Hermione and Ron sat opposite, Ron nearest the window, both of them laughing at something Neville had just said. Luna was sat on someone's trunk that had been left by the door, tracing something through a sheet of parchment onto a page of the latest edition of the Quibbler.

Ginny glanced up at him as she sensed him relax against the corner of the cabin in contentment. She grinned as he smiled down at her. "Feeling alright?" she asked.

Harry nodded, quickly tightening his hug. "Just counting my blessings" he said. "Sometimes I just can't believe we all made it."

Ginny gripped his hand with hers and gave it a squeeze. "Don't you start getting all deep and meaningful again." She said, trying to lighten his mood. "This is a year for a light-hearted-Harry, not an I–have-to-kill-an-evil-psychopath-Harry."

Harry smirked at her words, knowing that over the last couple of weeks of the holiday the two of them had been growing closer and she had been noticing the odd quiet reflection that he kept sinking into. Sometimes he would walk away from the Burrow and squirrel-himself away somewhere quiet, thinking about the people who had died or been injured in the final battle. On one occasion he had been sat in a summer storm, tears running down his face as the thunder rumbled overhead. He had been found by Arthur Weasley several hours later and cajoled back into the Burrow for a warm shower and hot tea, but since then he had noticed his friends kept a closer eye on his moods and were always by his side to support him if he felt his grip waver.

"I'm okay." He reassured her, then indicated to her book. "How's the game-plan coming along?"

Ginny nodded, "All good so far." She said. "I'm planning on trying out a second team though, considering most of us will be leaving this year. We can mix and match and learn a bit more through having more players at training sessions as well as giving them a bit of an advantage for next year. You're going to pick up seeker again aren't you?"

Harry shrugged. "Going to have to sort out a new broom." He said. "I meant to do it last week but haven't had much chance to get into Diagon Alley."

"Oh, I meant to tell you." Ginny said, turning around slightly in her seat and looking at Harry with a happy glint in her eye. "I spoke briefly with McGonagall a couple of days ago when she came to speak with dad and she mentioned that they were going to buy some new brooms for the school. The Quidditch field obviously needed replacing so they were going to get the latest in the Comet range for a brand new start. Nothing as good the Firebolt of course, but at least we can all get back in the air!"

"Brilliant." Ron said, overhearing their conversation. "We'll all be on a level field then, at least for the first few games until people can get their own again."

Harry smiled. "Comets are good, but I'd miss the maneuverability of my old Firebolt. Do you think I can owl-order one?"

"For you I'd think they'd send you all of the top-models to try out and give you your pick of the bunch." Ron said with a chuckle.

Harry blushed slightly, still uncomfortable with the amount of gifts and praise that was being laid on him. If anything, he preferred the snubs and insults that came from those that had lost a loved-one, at least then it matched his mood on the whole event. "I'd much rather they didn't." he said, and added seriously. "If I give you the money, do you think you could get one on my behalf?"

The group around him laughed and soon got distracted by the arrival of the treat-trolley and settled back for the rest of the journey.

It wasn't long before there was a shadow at the door and silence fell around the cabin as everyone's attention was taken by the person standing there.

"Malfoy." Harry said in a steady voice, giving the Slytherin a nod.

The Malfoy heir looked nervous as he stood in the doorway. Like most of the other boys in their year he had grown several inches over the summer although appeared to have lost a lot of weight, his normally pale palour almost sickly looking with shadows under his eyes that weren't hidden by his carefully styled hair.

"Potter." He replied, his voice low and slightly shaky. His eyes darted around the small room before settling on the Gryffindor again. "Could I have a word?"

"Feel free." Hermione said, her hand unsubtly gripping her wand. Several of the other DA members had also pulled out their wands.

Malfoy shifted uncomfortably and looked back at Harry. "In private?"

"You wish!" Ron said with a snort. "After all that you did last year! You think we're going to let you go anywhere with him alone?"

His words fell flat as Harry stood up, untangling himself from where Ginny had been leaning against him and walked to the door of the cabin.

"We can talk in the corridor." He said softly to the Malfoy. "In full view of the group, but without being overheard."

Malfoy nodded, seemingly relieved that Harry was willing. Once the door was closed he turned his attention away from the eyes that were glaring at him through the paneled windows and took a deep breath to steel his nerves.

"I'm sorry." He said, and his shoulders sank as if a large weight had been removed.

Harry snorted slightly. "Is that it?" he asked, resisting the urge to pass a snide comment and wait to see what it was Malfoy was trying so hard to say.

Malfoy nodded. "I know that doesn't even start to amend what my family and myself have done to you over the past few years, but I am genuinely sorry for this past year. Having Vol… um, You-Know-Who in my house for the most of last year made me realize a lot of things, especially how much of a git I had been to you, and how much you have gone through..."

"And yet you still chased Hermione, Ron and myself in the Room of Requirement, nearly killing us and almost getting yourself killed in the process." Harry stood still, finally crossing his arms as he watched Malfoy chew his bottom lip and glance towards the others again.

"I had no idea what I was thinking." He admitted. "When I was younger it was all about trying to impress my father, thinking he was big and important in the eyes of the strongest wizard alive." He glanced towards Harry. "I realize now that I was backing the wrong team. There was no way You-Know-Who was going to win. My actions that night were in desperation. I started to think… well, hope really, that if I had achieved something that could restore my parents name, everything would become better again. I was so wrong. I used to think that our family name was something to be proud of, but I've never been so ashamed to be called a Malfoy as when we walked away from that final battle."

He snorted and Harry frowned slightly when he noticed tears in his eyes. "My mother proved to be so much stronger than my father this past year, and I almost wish I could change my name to Black…" he sighed, realizing this was something that Harry didn't need to know and tried to get back on track. "I could never hope to be friends, Potter, and I know that too much blood has been spilt between us that would prevent us from starting afresh, but I am hoping that we can maybe call a truce? Now He's gone, everyone is starting again, and I would like you to give me the chance to show I can change too."

Harry shook his head. "You're asking _me_ for permission to become someone new?" he stated incredulously. "Why?"

"Because you are the one who we've treated the worst! My aunt killed Black! My father has done nothing but snub you and cause problems! Bellatrix also tortured one of your best friends when my parents and I stood around and did nothing!" he gestured emotionally with his arms. "Not to mention I owe you a life-debt for saving me in the Room of Requirement. All this time I have stood by the traits expected of a Slytherin, acting selfishly at every turn in order to profit myself and those I care about. But really I am nothing more than a coward. My family has been ashamed of showing their faces in public all summer and all I'm asking for is the chance for us to be able to go about our lives. Start afresh like everyone else."

He was breathing heavily by the end of his emotional outburst and angrily swiped at one of his eyes, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment and shame.

Harry glanced to his right, making eye contact with his closest friends. Neville stood solidly next to Ron and both had their wands out but lowered. Once Ron saw the look in Harry's eyes he shook his head warningly even though he couldn't hear what was going on. Hermione on the other hand seemed to be trying to analyse their body language, her usual thoughtful look on her face. It was Ginny that helped him make the decision; she had a knowing smile on her face, full of love and support in whatever decision he made. Harry didn't know how he got so lucky to be part of such a supportive relationship. Even though they had only officially been a couple less than a couple of months, she already seemed to know what he was thinking and they were already acting as one couple rather than two separate persons.

"I don't know about your father." Harry said, his eyes still gazing deeply into those of his girlfriend. "He did a lot to so many people in this last war… and I can only imagine what he did in the first war to gain a position in Voldemort's inner circle. I honestly don't think I could ever look at him again without wanting to make him pay for what he put my friends and family through."

He looked down, feeling slightly ashamed at having to admit that. "But your mum saved my life." He said, glancing up to catch the look of shock in Malfoy's eyes. "When I walked out to confront Voldemort he hit me with the killing curse again. We both fell to the floor and she was tasked to see if I was still alive. She felt my pulse, she knew I was alive and conscious, but instead of giving me away all she wanted to know was that you were okay. I nodded to answer her and as soon as I did, she lied. She told him that I was dead. I know he was feeling the effects from the rebound but it takes a lot of guts to lie to Voldemort. I know of only one other who was able to get away with it and he has been given the honour of being buried next to the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen. All I had to do after that was to keep him thinking that way until we got to the school."

"I didn't know that." Malfoy said in awe. "She lied to the Dark Lord?"

Harry smiled slightly and nodded. "Seems like there is a bit of Gryffindor bravery in every concerned mother." He said.

Malfoy smirked, the shadow of his old self appearing briefly. "Or maybe she saw a way to get what she wanted by being particularly Slytherin."

"I guess that shows that each of us have a bit of every house within us." Harry returned with a half- smile and relaxed his stature slightly. "As for you," he said and watched the Slytherin's prince close up again. "You were right; you were a coward. But, even if it is only for your own self-interest, it has taken a lot of courage to speak to me today," Harry nodded to the window where his friends were still looking out. "Especially with them hawk-eyeing you!"

Harry watched as Malfoy glanced nervously to the door and then back to Harry. "If you owe me a life debt for the Room of Requirement, then I negate that with the favour your mother gave me, I doubt very much I could've survived another killing curse, two in one life-time is more than enough for me." He smiled slightly. "I'm willing to call your truce, but with a couple of conditions."

Malfoy hesitantly nodded, but the fact that he hadn't sneered and shot-down Harry's offer showed a level of maturity that Harry had never previously seen.

"Number one, you don't insult my friends. I don't want to ever want to hear you call someone a mudblood, or insult their heritage. If you want to think it or comment on it with your own friends then that is up to you, but I ask you to remember the number of half-bloods, muggle-borns and magical creatures that helped end this. I don't pretend to think you can change a life-time's worth of opinion and upbringing, but I do ask that you keep it to yourself. Is that fair?"

Malfoy nodded, not making any attempt to say otherwise.

"Number two, you were always a leader in Slytherin, whether that be through bullying, money or whatever. You used to hold a lot of power and, if you think you're up for the challenge, I think other people in your house will start following your lead if you start becoming active with all the new changes that are going to be happening in the school. You may have behaved like an idiot, but you do have a pretty good grasp on politics and power and other stuff that Gryffindors just don't care about. I think you can make a new name for yourself by using that knowledge. Something you might be interested in?"

Malfoy nodded again and Harry could already see his mind working on plans and strategies to improve his standing with his house.

"Finally, I don't really want you to change that much." Harry said. "It would just seem too weird. As long as you don't overstep the mark I think we can show others that we can be civil enemies. I still need a challenge on the Quidditch pitch this year after all. We can make all those insults and slagging matches a bit of fun, if you like?"

Malfoy smirked, though the look in his eyes had a humbled look about them. "You think you can still best me in a match, Potter?" he said.

Harry shrugged. "I think it'd be fun to find out."

Malfoy nodded. "I think all you've said is fair." He hesitated again. "And thanks." He added.

Harry just rolled his eyes and put his hand on the door to return to his friends. "Don't get all mushy on me, Malfoy." He said. "Everyone says that you Slytherins are a bunch of pansies, but I think it's rather unbecoming seeing a grown man beg."

Malfoy snorted, playing along. "If you think I'm going to bow to your elevated ego, Potter, think again. It's so much more fun looking down on you and your little entourage."

"Says the Dungeon-dweller." Harry retorted as he opened the door. "See you around, Malfoy." And without another look he turned his back on his once-enemy walked into the cabin.

"You're bloody soft, you know that?" Ron said, gaping in disbelief at his friend.

"I've just had enough of people hating each other." Harry replied. "If we want to take a step forward then maybe Malfoy can help by turning the heads of other Slytherins from the top of the house this year, as well as from the bottom with the new first years and the new classes McGonagall has organized."

"I think that sort of planning is rather Slytherin of you." Hermione said. "Not at all like the Gryffindor we know that jumps onto the back of dragon without thinking."

Ron snorted. "Like we had much choice about that." He said with laugh.

"I wonder what happened to that poor animal." Luna said from where she was still perched on top of the trunk. "Do you think someone's found him and looking after him?"

"I think it was large enough to be able to look after himself" Hermione said with a shudder, and her friends laughed as they retook their seats.

* * *

><p>The rest of the first week went well. The opening feast started with the usual sorting of new students, the Sorting Hat singing a song of rejoice that the war was over, and stressing the importance of unity within the school. Following this, there was a long introductions of new teachers and subjects that would be introduced over the new year.<p>

The teachers that had survived the war had taken on their usual subjects, with Professor Slughorn returning as potions professor and ex-student Henry Jackson taking over the role of History of Magic professor. The introduction of Muggle Studies was being taught by a Squib called Sam Nelson, who had grown up with Muggles and got a teaching degree at a Muggle university. The most interesting new faces were Italian twins Cas and Tori Pollux who would be teaching Practical Defence and Duelling Theory in place of the old Defence against the Dark Arts. They appeared approachable and friendly with piercing blue eyes and cobalt hair, though it was clear that both were fully capable of holding their own in a battle, and the presence of swords strapped across their backs sparked an interest in Harry and he found himself looking forward to their lessons.

The following days were fullof settling down into a new way of school life. Everything was fundamentally different from what Harry and his friends had known before, but everyone was encompassing the changes with large grins on their faces. Harry found his free periods filled with meetings with a select committee of students from each House in company with a couple of house elves and searching through the castle for a suitable place to put some new common rooms. It had been his idea, fully supported by McGonagall, to have a common room for each year group as well as their House common rooms in their living quarters. His aim was to create a place where students could intermingle and work alongside their peers without the shadow of House bias. It had taken the best part of a day to find a large, disused wing in the castle. It was a long corridor, with several large rooms and a number of smaller ones dotted along it. Perfect for people to form their own DA type groups and practice spell work with their year-mates without the need for passwords.

Harry had found a large room at the far end of the corridor that was airy and spacious with large bay windows looking out over the lake; if you looked carefully you could just see Dumbledore's tomb peeking out from around a tree. Harry thumb-printed this room to for the older students, selfishly thinking that he would enjoy spending time in that room with his friends working on his final exams and practicing spell work. He had stood in the doorway for a long time, planning the layout of the room, with a small kitchen unit in the corner for students to make tea whilst they work, desks to work in, large comfy chairs to read in and an equally large open space for spell work. He knew it would take a while for the plans to be put in place, but he thought that the rooms would be up and running at least by the new year.

About three weeks into the term, Harry once more found himself happily holding Ginny's hand as they walked down the street of Hogwarts on the mid-autumn morning. Like on the previous occasions many people were pointing them out, but the shopping crowd seemed to respect their privacy and instead of rushing up to the couple, seemed content to admire them from a distance.

Harry knew they made an eye-catching couple; he had grown a lot over the summer with a healthy appetite and plenty of sun, not to mention clothes that fit properly and weren't hand-me-downs from a baby whale. And every time he looked to his right he felt himself smile like a giddy school boy. In his eyes Ginny looked stunningly beautiful today; dressed casually in tight blue jeans with a long tartan jacket over a green jumper, and her long red hair falling naturally around her shoulders, he knew he was lucky to be holding her hand but with a sudden urge he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer, planting a kiss into her hair before giving her a wink and pointing to the outdoor picnic benches that now sat outside the front of The Leaky Cauldron.

"Take a seat," he said. "I'll get the drinks."

Ginny smiled and nodded, climbing over the bench to sit down whilst Harry went inside to buy a couple of butterbeers. It took him a little longer than needed to get to the bar, several other students offering seats at their table or to join in a game of gobstones. Harry graciously declined, but upon his return found that a similar crowd had joined Ginny outside in the sunshine.

"You don't mind if we sit, do you Harry?" Dean asked, from where he was perched on the side of the table next to Lavender.

"Not at all." Harry replied. "Though don't expect me to get your drinks, it's packed in there."

Dean laughed. "Don't worry about that," he said. "Seamus has already gone in. Though I might take a swig of yours if he's going to take a while, I'm parched!"

Ginny took an exaggerated drink from her bottle and smacked her lips together after. "Delicious" she said, smirking at Dean's look.

"Potter, may I have permission to hit your missus?"

Harry shrugged and indicated for him to go ahead. Dean promptly snapped a hand out and patted it across the top of Ginny's head.

"You're supposed to protect me from that sort of thing." Ginny said indignantly, pouting at Harry.

Harry just smiled at her, heaving an internal sigh of contentment that the world was finally cruising along normally, even though he had lost many friends it was a blessing to be able to laugh and joke with those he had left and not worry about what was going to happen tomorrow.

Harry climbed over the bench and reached for Ginny's hand under the table, giving it a squeeze before taking another drink. Ginny looked at him quizzically, tipping her head to one side and asking a silent question.

Harry just smiled at her, leaning in to catch a quick kiss before the world seemed to erupt around him.

The building next to the Leaky Cauldron seemed to disintegrate, bricks and glass flying outwards without warning and pelting the group that had congregated in the small pub garden. Harry felt something hard hit the side of his head as the bright light of the blast caught his eye. Within a heartbeat, the sound of the explosion assaulted his ears, and he felt his face hit the side of the table and the world around went grey.

As soon as he was able, Harry sat up opening his eyes to see Ginny pushing herself up dazedly next to him.

"What the hell was that?" Harry heard someone ask.

Harry looked around at the moaning piles of bodies, some bleeding from cuts caused by the flying debris. He then turned to see a blackened ruin where the building next to the Leaky Cauldron had once stood. "Nothing good." He muttered in reply, pushing himself to stand and stepping over the bench. He looked down at Ginny as he pulled out his wand. "Are you alright?" he asked, reaching out to gently rub at a trail of blood on her temple.

She looked around, surveying the damage and nodding absently. "I think so." She said.

"HARRY!"

Harry's head snapped round, causing stars to dance behind his eyes as he saw Ron and Hermione sprinting towards him, their wands out.

"RUN!"

Harry spun around to see what they were aiming at and dropped to a defensive stance, pulling Ginny behind him slightly as he saw a group of a dozen wizards running towards them, black masks over their faces and their hoods pulled up.

He started firing off spells, fully aware that those who had been standing during the explosion had been sent flying, and many were still semi-conscious or too injured to defend themselves properly.

"Get them out of here!" he called over his shoulder to Ginny as he ran to where Ron and Hermione were also firing spells.

"Who are they?" he asked, sending a leg-tying curse at one wizard and sending him falling to the floor. Ron quickly followed with a binding curse.

"No idea." Hermione said. "We were just speaking to some Aurors near Honeydukes when suddenly they all appeared. The whole village is surrounded."

"What?" Harry paused in his offence for a moment, turning around to see Aurors fighting down the other end of the main street with another group of similarly dressed wizards.

"HEADS UP!"

Harry spun around, trying to locate the new danger when he felt something grab him around the throat and lift him into the air. He struggled, pulling at the constricting grip and trying hard to not let go of his wand.

He heard his friend's cry out from below as he ascended rapidly and caught a glimpse of Ginny running forward, wand pointing to him and desperation on her face.

With more luck than intent, Harry managed to grab hold of a thumb and pull it back, causing his abducted to grunt and release his grip slightly. Harry kicked out with his legs, managing to slide free of the grip but realising too late that they were far above the ground and just passing over the roofs of the buildings on the main street.

He hit the tiles at an angle and his feet slid out from beneath him, causing him to fall heavily onto his hip and slipping rapidly amongst a shower of slate, scrabbling for a grip as his legs went over the side.

For the briefest of moments, his fingers managed to hold onto the edge of the roof and slow his descent before he started once again to freefall, this time the two storeys to the floor.

He landed and rolled, gasping at the shocking pain that went through his legs and into his back. His shoulder slammed against a stone paving slab and he ended up leaning against a brick wall, gasping for breath and trying hard not to move his bone-shaken body.

As his senses returned, Harry heard a disturbance from the other side of the wall and struggled to open his eyes to see where the danger had gone and to make sure his friends were okay. With the help of the wall he managed to pull himself to his feet and watched in horror as his friends were herded up in a group, wands trained on them from every angle.

He watched as Ginny tried to break free, crying his name as she struggled against her captors and, a moment too late, he heard a step behind him.

He swung around, raising his wand arm, just as something large and black descended on him and wrapped around his throat, he felt something sharp press into his neck and with a gasp the world faded away.


	13. Chapter 12: Captive

Chapter 12 _Captive_

Harry opened his eyes to find himself in a darkened room with no natural light. His head pounded painfully and he raised his hand to find a swollen lump on his right temple. He was lying on a thin mattress facing a grey brick wall and there was a general smell of ammonia and stale sweat that caught in the back of his throat and caused him to cough.

"You finally woke up!" a male voice laced with a tinge of an accent stated and Harry sat up with a jump, banging his head on a wide sheet of hardwood above him as a pair of legs appeared from above, quickly followed by the torso of a young man in his twenties.

Harry reached for his wand then frowned as he realised that he was wearing the same unfamiliar grey sweats that the stranger was wearing and that his wand wasn't in his waist band where he normally kept it. He started searching around the bed, sliding his hand under his pillow and then ducked his head over the side of the mattress. His glasses had still been on his face so he presumed that his wand had been put nearby.

"You won't find it." The man said unhelpfully, taking a seat on a metal framed chair that had been placed near the bed. "Your wand that is. This prison is completely non-magical. There are wards in place to prevent accidental magic and I've heard that even animagus transformations are impossible. If you didn't lose it when they grabbed you then I suspect they've locked it away." He held out his hand to Harry. "My name is Sam. Sam Whyte."

Harry glanced distrustfully at the hand, his heart racing as he processed the man's words. "Prison?" he repeated dumbly.

Sam nodded, not seeming at all disappointed at Harry's lack of response. "In Hoosegow Prison off the coast of North America." He confirmed. "It's a little known island where the Americans tend to send their younger magical prisoners, though I've been here for about 15 years now."

"What you in for?" Harry asked, then, realising a more pressing question. "Why am I here?"

Sam shrugged. "Probably the same reason that I am." He said. "I doubt you're here for actually committing any crime. My parents moved from America and worked in the British Department of Mysteries. We were all taken from our home address by Death Eaters years ago. They were tortured for information regarding some research they had been doing and eventually died and I've been kept here ever since." He looked to Harry, "Given the news that's been filtering in recently, that the war's over and he-who-must-not-be-named is dead, I'm guessing I simply got forgotten about."

"You've been here all this time? For doing nothing?" Harry said incredulously.

Sam nodded. "I always hoped someone would come and find me, maybe find some clue to make them realise that I hadn't died with my parents. But, to be honest, I don't even know if my parents' bodies were ever located. All I know is that they weren't buried here. Chances are that people thought we had run for our lives when my parents were being targeted for information."

Harry looked at him sympathetically, taking in the long, dark blonde hair that was greasy at the roots and the soft brown eyes that swam with the hardships and neglect of so many years in captivity. Not really knowing how to respond, Harry looked around the cell they were in and took stock of his injuries.

At the rear of the cell there was a toilet and sink, a small table was placed near the head of the bed with a book and a few other personal items littered across its top. The front of the cell was solid brick, inset with a metal door and a barred window half way up. "How did you survive?" he asked. "How are you sane?"

Sam laughed slightly. "I wouldn't say I'm completely sane." He said, leaning back in his chair and placing his hands on his knees. "I don't think anyone unfairly imprisoned for as long as I have could be. But I keep myself occupied. Even though we are unable to do magic here there is actually an impressive library that I was given access to once it appeared I was no longer "needed" and over the years I've gradually became part of the furniture. You keep your nose clean here and after a while you can get quite a few liberties." He hesitated. "But giving that you are who you are, and that you've arrived here after the war is finished, I'm not really sure what's going on. How did you get here?"

Harry ignored the direct question and countered. "You know who I am?"

Sam nodded. "Of course, can't mistake _the_ Harry Potter." He said.

Harry nodded. "I guess not" he said. He sighed, looking around the room and rubbing at a persistent pain in his shoulder. "To be honest I don't really know why I am here. I can make a few guesses, but as to who took me or why I was taken I couldn't say. The last thing I remember was spending the day in Hogsmeade with…" he broke off, suddenly recalling Ginny's face being pulled away by the crowd as he was wrestled from behind and knocked out.

"I'm guessing that there were a few pissed off people when you killed He-who-must-not-be-named." Sam said, filling in the silence with a respectful voice. "Any chance they could have organised it?"

Harry shrugged. "There was a huge explosion, people screaming, a lot of confusion and I woke up here. Due to the length of time you have been here, I'm guessing that there is no way to escape or get word to my friends where I am?"

Sam shook his head. "To be honest, I still don't know exactly where we are and I've been here fifteen years. Research I've done state that this is somewhere in the middle of the ocean but within American borders. From what I've seen it is a pretty big island and there are a couple of towns nearby. The whole island is completely magic free, something to do with the way the ley-lines work or something. The lack of magic will probably give you a bit of a headache for a while, and don't be surprised if you feel a bit feverish when you try to sleep. The prison is mostly run by squibs so at least they understand about our way of life."

Harry slumped on his bed, rubbing his hand through his hair and wincing when he accidently brushed against a bump on his head. "I need to get out of here." He said.

"I wouldn't worry. I'm sure your friends will be relentless in their search. There's always a trail should you know how to find one. And take consolation that they brought you here. If they wanted you dead then why would they have bothered?"

Harry sent him a withering look.

"Look, I never said I had good social skills," Sam said with a smile. He reached up onto the bunk above Harry and pulled down a couple more books. "I'd make yourself comfortable if I were you" he said, passing the books to Harry. "You might be here some time."

Harry slowly took a hard-backed book with a dark brown cover and cast his eyes over the title; "_Chasing your tail; hints and tips for animagus transformations" _He smiled sadly as he recalled Sirius running freely in his dog-form after so many years wrongfully contained in Azkaban. He sighed as Sam climbed back onto the top-bunk and leant back onto his thin mattress, letting the book fall back onto his chest as he started counting out his options.

* * *

><p>Harry spent most of that day in the cell with Sam. The spent a fair amount of time talking, bringing him up to speed with what had happened in the war, but downplaying his own involvement in the events and speaking more about the discrimination and muggle-born cleansing that was going on. Sam seemed eager for information from the outside and in return spoke of what he could remember about Hogwarts, and disclosed that he had just been starting at the school when the first war had started. Harry found the young man friendly and easy to get along with, surprising seeing the conditions in which he had spent more than half his life.<p>

Sam also spent some time sharing the way of life at the prison. They were only allowed out of the cells four times a day; thrice for meals and once for exercise in the yard for a couple of hours, the times of the latter varied depending on what day it was. Sam reassured Harry that most of the inmates consisted mostly of young men and would be okay. He also said there weren't that many dangerous offenders at the lock-up and the ones that were a cause for concern were locked up in a separate wing. Any that wanted to cause problems learnt the hard way that to cause any problems in the unit would result in a good beating from the guards.

Despite Sam's words, Harry was nervous when a claxon sounded later that afternoon to state that the cells doors would be opening. He had nothing to base prison life on other than the occasional television programme he had watched back at Privet Drive when his relatives had been out, and most of those programmes had been full of violence and riots.

His nerves weren't wasted when he limped out the cell behind Sam only to be confronted by a man who was much the same size as Hagrid but without the giant genes.

"Clayman. You are coming with me." He gruffed.

"Clayman?" Harry asked, wincing as the guard grabbed his upper arm, fingers digging into the grazes from where he had slid down the roof. "I don't know who you think I am, but my name isn't Clayman."

"Shut up and keep walking." The guard said, pushing Harry ahead of him and through some double doors that another guard was holding open for them. Harry turned slightly as he went through them to catch Sam staring after him with a concerned look on his face.

The second guard, who was of a more average build smirked as Harry stumbled when he was shoved again down the corridor and made to face front.

"Where are you taking me? " He asked, frowning as they went down yet another corridor and walked through another set of double doors. After a couple of minutes of limping through off-white coloured hallways, Harry found himself stood in front of a room with a large red cross painted on it.

The smaller of the two guards pushed open the door, Harry quickly stumbling through after another forceful push from behind and finding himself in a room equipped with a couple of beds and muggle medical machines.

"Harry Clayman?" A female voice said from a side office.

"As requested." The brute of a guard behind Harry said.

Harry watched as a lady with long flowing dark hair and dressed in a light blue nurses' smock walked out, her head lowered as she examined some paperwork attached to a clip board.

"Well, it's worth giving our new guest a look over, especially after the tumble you said he took on the way in." she said, absently walking to one of the side tables. "On the bed if you please."

Harry once more found himself firmly gripped by both arms as he was turned around and physically backed onto the hospital bed. Once his shoulders were pushed down to the bed Harry felt something cold and metallic around his right wrist and looked down to find himself handcuffed to the bed railings.

"No funny business." the larger guard warned him, before walking out the room and closing the door behind him.

The room fell silent as Harry glanced down at his restraints before examining the doctor in the room.

"So, Mr Clayman, I've heard that you may have injured yourself on the way in last night." She turned around, another question poised on her lips before she hesitated.

"My name isn't Clayman." Harry said quietly. "It's Potter."

The doctor immediately deflated, and Harry supposed that she must put on a larger front for the more obnoxious inmates. The look of recognition on her face made him think that he wasn't the only prisoner in this prison that had been admitted due to less than legal means.

"So it is." She said. "I guess they thought it would be amusing to change your name from Potter to Clayman due to the tools used by your namesake." She said. "I'm Doctor Cornish."

Harry nodded slightly. "I really need to get home." He said and she immediately started shaking her head, turning to grab some equipment from the table behind her.

"No," she said. "I can't and won't help you. It is not worth my life."

Harry frowned. "Your life? You don't work here willingly?"

The doctor shrugged slightly, but didn't offer any explanation to her words. "Just know that I won't be doing anything to help you." She said. "Now, why don't you tell me what happened and what hurts, then we can get you back to your cell for some rest."

"I got dropped off a broom, slid down a roof and fell two storeys to the ground." Harry said bitterly, his look turning steely with anger when he realised that doctor had no intention of helping him. "After that I was injected with something and woke up here. No doubt my family and friends are currently going out of their minds with worry."

The doctor gave a small sigh, but didn't comment on his last words as she started working her way down his body, speaking only to ask him to remove his top so she could see the scrapes and grazes on his back and shoulder and the occasional question about the pain he was in.

"I think you'll live" she said finally, indicating that Harry could pull his top back on from where it was currently gathered around the cuffs. "Nothing a good night's sleep and some mild exercise to stretch out your muscles wouldn't fix."

Harry rolled his eyes as she went to the door and leant through it, indicating to the guards standing outside that they could lead Harry back to his cell. The larger one came over and released the cuffs, gripping Harry tightly around his wrist and pulling him from the bed. He was roughly led down the corridor back to his cell, where he was pushed in. He was left standing in the middle of the empty cell, his back to the guards as they slammed the door closed. With a sigh he looked around the plain walls and the two thin mattresses on the bunk-beds then closed his eyes in a useless attempt to block out the loneliness that was crushing in on him.

The first night in the cell was a nightmare. Harry slept fitfully, his body wracked with cold sweats and a there was a constant dull ache just behind his eyes that prevented him from drifting off. He tried to limit his movements so that he wouldn't wake Sam on the bunk above him.

Sam had warned him that the lack of magic in the prison would have an effect on him, but Harry never realised what magic actually felt like until it had gone. He spent a good hour thinking over what magic actually was; was it something within the human body or were wizards and witches just somehow able to channel magic from the surrounding environment.

He supposed it was more the latter. It fitted that wizards had some sort of inner ability to channel magic. With Harry's limited knowledge of muggle science he figured it was something in the genetics, with the occasional anomaly resulting in a muggle born witch or wizard. Whatever allowed a wizard to access magic, all Harry knew right now was that he was missing it. His hands were shaking and there was a cold weight inside his chest as if something was missing.

He tried hard to sleep and it wasn't long before the lights inside the cell were put on and Sam stirred in the bunk above him.

"Morning." Harry said when a head full of bed hair leaned over the side of the bunk to look down at him.

"You look awful." Was Sam's muted reply.

"No worse than I actually feel." Harry replied dejectedly. "I see what you mean about the lack of magic. Does the feeling ever get better? "

Sam bit on his bottom lip slightly before replying. "You tend to get used to the feeling after a while." He said. "But it is always there. Sometimes it still hits me like a tonne of bricks. It leaves me breathless and shakey. There was a while a couple of years back when I got really panicky every time they tried to get me out of the cell. If you lie there and really focus on the feeling, you can almost feel something inside you reaching out trying to find some magic."

Harry nodded, assessing his own feelings as Sam described his. "I really don't know how you've survived so long." He finally said.

Sam shrugged. "Maybe when they come and find you, you could put in a good word for me and get me out?"

Harry smiled up at the upside down face and nodded. "If what you've told me is right, then I really don't see any of my friends would hesitate to get you out of here too. They are getting pretty good at rescuing me. Did I tell you that my best mate and his two brothers broke me free from my aunt's house once? They didn't really like me due to my "unnaturalness" and had locked me in the bedroom and put bars on my window. They used a flying car to pull the bars of the window and fly my back to their house where I spent the rest of the summer. It was the first time I had ever stayed in a magical household. I remember thinking that every little thing in the house was amazing!"

Sam smiled wistfully. "I remember having a pet Kneazle called Jasper. He was the ugliest thing but I used to treat him like my best friend. I have no idea what happened to him."

Harry looked up at the melancholy face and twisted his head as much as his stiff neck allowed to see Sam's face the right way up. "Did I mention that I also know the Minister of Magic?" he said with a sparkle in his eye.

Sam frowned. "What?"

Harry shrugged slightly. "Well, when the gang get here and blast their way through the wall to rescue their hero-in-distress, I'm sure that mentioning your unfair incarceration to the Minister of Magic would allow a few liberties. Maybe some money to start a new life for yourself; enough so that you can make a home for yourself and a new Kneazle."

Sam smiled back. "That would be nice." He said.

A sudden noise at the door made them look up, and the door swung open to reveal the shorter of the two guards glaring in at them. "Breakfast." He grunted and moved away from the door.

Harry followed Sam's lead and stood up from the bed, having a little stretch and nervously relieving himself in the toilet in the corner before freshening up and leaving the cell.

He followed Sam along the corridor in the opposite direction from the medical wing. There were a couple of double doors that they had to wait at for guards to let them through, and as they neared the dining hall more and more inmates joined them in the march.

Harry nervously glanced at the other boys as he sat down next to Sam in the dining hall. There must have been about 60 youths there in total, ranging from about 12 years to Sam's age. He noticed many of them pointing and whispering about him, but it was nothing that he hadn't experienced pretty much every year of his school life.

He sighed as he tried to concentrate on his meal, but his appetite was none existent due to the situation and the constant ache that he was feeling in certain parts of his body from the fall.

It was part way through the meal that Harry noticed that four boys were staring at him from a table opposite him. Every time he looked up at them one or other would make eye contact, grin evilly and then turn to speak with one of their colleagues. He started to feel distinctly sick when Sam said that they would be going out into the yard for some exercise once the meal was done, his nerves building with the hostile glances.

Once the claxon sounded again, Harry followed Sam meekly into the yard. He hated sticking so close to his cell-mate, but he understood that Sam would be best to help him should he get into any problems.

The yard seemed standard, nothing that Harry hadn't expected from watching his cousins television. It was a grassed area, with sandy parts near the football post and the basketball hoop. There were stands where they could sit and shelter on one side of the yard with a clear roof so that the guards could still keep an eye on them.

And there were guards everywhere. Harry couldn't see the front gate from where he was but he could see two great towers, one which covered the yard and he presumed that the other covered the front entrance. Each tower had three guards in, staring out over the yard with large rubber-bullet guns in their hands.

Sam glanced at him reassuringly. "Let's just go sit on the stands." He suggested. "We'll keep our noses clean today. I'll start introducing you to the more receptive characters tomorrow." He started walking over to the wooden seating with Harry on his heels. "As I said, most of the kids here are safe enough, but you have to remember that there is a reason they are in here. Some are just here for a short-stay, usually due to performing under-age magic or magic in front of muggles. They are normally housed in one of the other wings and will come out to the yard at a different time. But repeat offenders will be in with us. There are also those that have used magic maliciously… for bullying and the like. They are in with us too, so expect a lot of pushy hormonal boys. Most of the time they are just all mouth but…"

Harry grunted as he was suddenly pushed from behind, falling heavily into the back of Sam and making them both stumble forward.

Both Sam and Harry turned quickly, Harry's stomach sinking when he saw the four boys from the dining hall standing in front of them.


	14. Chapter 13: Interrogation

Chapter 13 _Interrogation_

"What's your problem, Dillon?" Sam asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Nothing that would involve you." The largest of the boys said, indicating with his hand.

With a small struggle Sam suddenly found himself being held by two other boys, each taking one of his arms before kicking out his legs and forcing him to his knees. They then each pulled at one of his arms and pressed against his shoulders, forcing him to remain in the prone position.

"Hey!" Harry said, stepping forward to help defend his friend. "Let him go!"

"I don't think so." Bully number two said from his place beside Dillon, stepping forward and grabbing Harry's upper arm. When Harry turned he followed his action with a fist to the face causing Harry to stumble again, nearly falling to the floor as his head swam with the impact.

Harry could hear Sam shouting in the background, but resolved himself to further pain when he saw the other three boys converge on him. Within moments he had been forced to the floor despite his attempts to defend himself with his fists and feet. He even tried biting one of his attackers who was pushing his head into the ground by a hand to his chin. When the offensive didn't work he tried to curl himself up into a ball to defend his upper body, but by then his head and shoulders were immobilised and he couldn't bring up his legs far enough to protect his stomach and ribs as they started to kick him.

He felt a couple of his ribs give way with a sharp crack, and let out a yell when a boot repeatedly embedded itself into his left-hand side just above his hip.

It seemed an age before a loud bang and sudden movement around him caused his attackers to let go and step away. He sensed more than saw several guards come in to break the fight up and his mind slowly registered that the loud bang he had heard was likely to have been a gun shot. He absently wondered through the pain whether or not any of the offenders had been hit by one of the rubber bullets, but his world suddenly turned a bright red when he tried to take in a breath.

"Harry. Hey, Harry!" He could hear his name being called and he opened his eyes slightly to see Sam kneeling next to him. "The medic-team are on their way." He promised. "Just try not to breathe too deeply right now. I think they broke a couple of your ribs."

Harry just snorted slightly at his attempts to be reassuring and regretted the action when he felt a further stabbing pain in his side. The urge to cough was strong, but if the pain in his chest was anything to go by it would most likely escalate to be on par with a cruciatus curse.

"Hold in there, Harry." Sam was saying, before being pulled back to be replaced by the vaguely familiar face of the Doctor he had been to see the day before.

"Mr Clayman? Just take some steady breaths, Mr Clayman" she was saying as she took his vitals the muggle way, holding onto his wrists for his pulse and using a small pen torch to look into his eyes.

She looked up over his head, "Turn him over, slowly." She said and Harry felt several hands grip his shoulders and hips before the world started to turn unnaturally. His eyes clamped shut as he felt the broken bones in his ribs grind against one another and with a spark of white-hot pain he felt something burst in his side before everything went dark.

He woke many hours later to a dim light and deja-vu. His gaze half-heartedly focused on the hardwood of the bunk above him and he struggled to keep his thoughts in line. His body felt like it was floating and even though he could feel the lumps in the thin mattress below him it didn't seem to bother him as much as it had before.

He tried to frown when he realised that his lips were curled up in a smile, knowing that this was not the right emotion to be expressing at this time, but somehow not caring that things weren't right. Something had happened to him. Something bad.

He must've expressed his confusion verbally as the bed moved slightly and he watched a pair of legs appear in his field of vision as Sam dropped down from above.

"Hey, mate." He said softly, leaning under the bunk and into Harry's field of vision. "How are you feeling?"

Harry frowned slightly, understanding the words but not really making sense of the question.

"Harry?"

Harry blinked slowly and tried to get his mouth to work. "Odd." was his only response.

Sam frowned. "That's probably the pain potion they gave you. I spoke to Dr Cornish when they brought you back here and she seemed really angry. Seems she was forced to give you a pain killer called "Glee". Well, that's what the inmates call it. I'm sure it's probably got a proper name somewhere."

Harry managed to get his face to frown. Well, at least he thought he had. There was a part still alert in his mind that could sense the concern in his new friend's voice and thankfully something must've shown on his face, even if he was unable to communicate verbally, because Sam soon explained.

"It's a really bad potion. Highly addictive. Not many people here will attempt to try it, but those who come in already addicted have a hard time of it. Most die from the withdrawal. Dr Cornish thinks you'd be okay with just the one dose. The effects should last about a day and with the amount of pain you are probably in because of your ribs I'm not surprised they gave it to you. I'm sure she would've used something else if she could but there was a guy at the door and he seemed insistent that you get injected with Glee."

He took a bit of a breath and sat himself gently on the side of Harry's mattress, careful enough not to jostle the bed too much. "They really did a number on you." He said softly. "No internal bleeding, but a lot of bruising. Your kidneys will probably be giving you a bit of jip when you pee, the Doc said that they are likely to be well bruised. Your ribs are strapped up so tight I'm surprised you are able to breathe by yourself. I've done a fair amount of reading on magical remedies, I went through a stage a couple of years back when I figured myself to be a medi-wizard in training, and I'm honestly surprised that they released you, but the Doc didn't seem too happy about that either. She'll probably be back in a couple of hours to check on you."

Harry watched silently as Sam chewed on his lip, he seemed to be looking at him to see how much of this he was taking in. "Look, Harry, I've been speaking to a couple of the other lads in here. Not the ones that beat into you, I haven't seen them, but it seems like they were talking to some others before the incident in the yard yesterday. They were told to attack you; ordered more like it! They're the sort that doesn't really need much of an excuse to get into a fight but I don't think you're safe here. Someone wants you here and someone wants you hurting. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the whole Voldemort thing, but I'm still asking around for more information about the reasons why."

Harry just stared blankly, his mind jumped from reason to reason but did nothing than make him feel slightly nauseous. He groaned in discomfort and Sam leaned over and picked up a metal wastepaper bin. "You're likely to get pretty ill in a few hours." He said. "Glee may be good for getting rid of pain and it can also make you pretty fearless if you weren't currently restricted to your bed. But the come-downs are the worst. Just ride through it and let me know if you need anything, okay? It'll probably be best if you sleep through it, but I'm sure you'll be fine."

He put a hand on Harry's and gave it a squeeze before standing up and clambering up on his bunk. Harry stared at the space where he disappeared from and felt the fuzzy warmth of the potion running through him, but the sense of not being able to feel anything or care about what was going on caused something inside him to worry. He closed his eyes and drifted, a small smile on his face even though he could feel the tight strapping around his chest and the sharpness of the damage to his ribs. Within minutes he had relaxed enough to sleep and he allowed himself to drift off.

He slept most the rest of the day, waking late in the evening following the day of the assault to be violently ill. Sam sat by his side, one arm wrapped around his chest to stop him pitching off the bed as he tried to throw-up his insides. At one point when his stomach had settled temporarily and he had taken a sip of water he tried to explain to Sam about the time Ron had misspelled a curse and ended up vomiting slugs for the best part of the morning, but his story was interrupted by further stomach cramps.

Come the morning, both boys were groggy and exhausted. They both looked up when the door to their cell opened to admit Dr Cornish who took one look at them and allowed her face to show a shadow of sympathy before a mask fell over it.

"I trust you are feeling better?" she asked, taking Sam's place on the side of Harry's bed.

"My chest doesn't hurt anymore." Harry said.

Dr Cornish nodded, pulling Harry's shirt up to look at the bandaging. "The injuries are still there though, so mind how you move for a couple of days. You only broke one rib, though I imagine the others aren't making it easy for you to breathe either. There shouldn't be any further repercussions from the pain killer you were given. It's very good for pain management, but by the looks of it you have discovered the side-effects."

"Barbaric if you ask me." Sam muttered. "There are so many better alternatives you could have used."

The doctor sent him a stern glare which he shrugged off as he climbed easily up onto his bed.

"I'll come and check on you again later." Dr Cornish said, pulling Harry's top back down and walking to the cell door.

She was about to walk out when her way was blocked by a looming figure.

"He awake?" The tall guard said.

"He needs rest, Spencer." The doctor told him. "Leave him be for the day."

"He needs to come with us. He has a visitor. Will he be able to walk?"

"He'd be able to run circles around the rec-field if you had done your job properly." The doctor replied accusingly.

She glanced over her shoulder to where Harry was staring at her, his eyes wary with dark shadows under them.

"Get him something to eat, he should be well enough to see his "_visitor" _in a couple of hours."

The guard called Spencer nodded and waited in the doorway as the doctor walked out and away down the corridor. He then indicated to someone just out of the sight of the door and walked into the cell, followed by two other guards.

"Unfortunately, your visitor would like to see you now. He has some questions for you." He said with a sneer on his face. He grabbed one of Harry's arms and pulled him up roughly, ignoring the cry of pain as Harry's ribs were jostled.

"Why are you doing this?" Sam asked from the top bunk. "Can't you see he's in pain?"

If anything, Spencer's grin got larger. "Kinda the point." He said, not remotely apologetic as he and one of the other guards dragged Harry to the door.

Harry tried hard to make his legs work as he was marched away from the cell, but most of the time his toes dragged on the floor, his weight being held up by his arms and his head hanging low. At least he was grateful that his nausea had past.

Before too long they walked into a dingy room, light came from a small window high on one wall and there were several shelves holding what appeared to be cleaning materials lined throughout the room.

In the middle of the room there was a table and Harry soon found himself hoisted above it, his shoulders forced to the cold metal and held in place by two of the guards.

"Hello, Plimpee."

Harry turned his head to see a dark haired wizard that he had never seen before leaning against the shelves in the shadows. He was dressed in long, black robes and Harry could see a wand holster on one wrist though it appeared to be empty. His accent was distinctly American and looked at Harry as if he wanted to rip him apart.

"Do I know you?" Harry asked through gritted teeth, his feet pushing against the table top in attempt to shift the weight of the guards of his shoulder.

"No. I don't think you do." The man replied, pushing away from the wall and stalking over. "My name is Richard Klement. I come from a company that is very interested in your story."

"And I'm guessing you're the reason I'm in here?"

Klement chuckled and nodded. "Of course. Your name was brought to our attention after your recent adventures against Riddle. From our enquiries it seems as if you have an uncanny knack of getting out of tight spots. Our researchers seem to think it is your innate magical talent that bursts forth to save you, in particular against curses that would normally drop a wizard to the ground in the blink of an eye, but I think we both know that there was more at play than that."

He leant his hands against the table next to Harry's hips, staring down at the prone teenager with hunger in his eyes. "Because of that we figured we wouldn't take any chances. Remove the magic, remove the risk of escape, right?"

"What do you want from me?" Harry demanded.

"I want to know how you did it." Klement replied, then held up one finger. "Correction, I know how you did it, but I want to know more."

"How I did what?"

"Survive." Klement said, relishing the word as it rolled of his tongue. "You are the only person in the world to have survived the killing curse. And you not only survived it once, but twice. It is unheard of. I represent a group of researchers, much like your Department of Mysteries, and we want to know what you know."

Harry shook his head. "I don't know a lot." He said, glancing at his guards. "It's not like I expected to survive or anything. I was only a baby the first time and I was fully prepared to go down for good the second."

Klement nodded in understanding. "But still you survived." He said. "And we want to know why."

Harry shook his head. "Then you are going to have to find out how another way, because I don't know."

Klement sighed. "I'll go through what I do know." He said, "your mother was a gifted witch, she was the one that gave you blood protection when she sacrificed herself, but there was something else at play that night, and I'm not talking prophecies here. I'm talking about something in your blood."

"My blood?" Harry repeated.

"You, young man, are the heir of a very magical blood line."

The silence made something cold creep through Harry's veins. "So?"

"The Peverells!" Klement announced, standing up suddenly and pacing around the room. "Three brothers, living the life as prominent magical figures in their time. They led the way in inventing new spells. They discovered new magic and their discoveries have held an honoured place amongst the academic communities for generations to come."

"I honestly hadn't heard of them…" Harry said, but realised his tone of voice had let him down as he cut of the words "until recently".

The gleam in Klement's eyes became brighter. "Amongst their discoveries," he continued. "the ability to create a cloak of invisibility. Ignotus left clear instructions in his notes on how to do it, but he only ever produced one himself. This cloak, the first cloak of invisibility, has been passed through his blood line even when the name of Peverell died out. It was the only cloak that never faltered, was never worn down. No one was able to produce one as effective and it finally came to rest with his direct line heir; You."

Harry tried to drag a breath in, but it felt the world was crashing down around him as he realised what it was the Klement was likely to be after.

"But Ignotus wasn't the only one to leave an heirloom of such power. Cadmus created a stone that could bring back the dead. No one has ever seen this stone, its location died out with the Peverell family name, but it was believed to have been passed down until it came to rest with the family with the name of Gaunt. The Gaunt's always had a reputation of being slightly off-kilter." He rocked his hand slightly. "Slightly mad, if you will. A genetic affliction probably passed down from Cadmus through his illegitimate child and multiple counts of inbreeding until it came to rest with Marvolo Gaunt and his daughter Merope."

Klement leaned in close, looming over Harry's body. "No one has ever seen this stone. But from your reaction I'm guessing that you've not only seen it but also had it in your possession."

Harry just held his tongue, levelly returning Klement's stare until the American nodded slightly. "I suspect that the stone played a large part in your survival that night at Hogwarts. Holding a power over the dead, a link through the veil, was probably what allowed you to keep your grip on life."

He turned his head onto one side as he examined Harry. "I want to know where the Resurrection Stone is."

Harry shook his head. "It'll drive you mad." He said, "You said it yourself, the Gaunts have always been crazy. You think it was because of the inbreeding but more than likely it was probably because of the ghosts they shared their lives with."

Klement nodded his head. "It isn't the only thing that is currently missing from that night though, is it?" He said, his voice dropping low and dangerous.

Harry felt the need to roll his eyes. Even though he knew that he was in a dangerous position, the amount of dramatics the man was putting into his performance was beginning to make him wish he was facing Voldemort again.

"Where is the wand, Harry?"

Harry just shook his head. "I honestly don't know." He said.

Klement lashed out, his hand catching Harry's face and sending the back of his head into the metal table with force.

"Wrong answer." He said.

Harry just shook his head, trying to clear the stars. "Right answer." He replied. "I'm not stupid. I know how much power that wand holds. No one should hold that much power. It corrupts you, makes you feel invincible. That's what Antioch found out the hard way. He may have created an amazing magical aide, with or without his brothers' help, but he let the power get to him and it got him killed. That's why I hid it and then removed the memory of its hiding place with a well-placed Obliviate. Now no one will ever know where it is. And when I die, I suspect that its power will die with me."

Klement lashed out in anger, jerking the table and Harry was only saved from face planting the floor by the strong grip of the guards behind him.

Klement indicated to Spencer who stepped forward, grabbing one of his ankles and ripping the shoe and sock off. Klement had walked to one of the shelves and grabbed a pair of garden secateurs.

"What do you think you're doing?" Harry demanded, starting to struggle when he saw what Klement was headed with the garden tool.

"I want to know where the wand and the stone are." He said, bringing the sharp tool up to the side of Harry's foot that was being held down by Spencer. He felt the grip on his shoulders tighten as the cool metal came into contact with the skin on his smallest toes. "You will tell me."

"I can't." Harry said. "I lost the stone in the woods when I went up against Voldemort. The location of the wand is in a memory that no longer exists. I can't tell you where they are."

"Too bad." Klement said, pressing the handles of the snips together.

Harry screamed as he felt a sharp pain in his toe, followed by the warm flow of blood from the stumps of his last two toes. The force behind his scream was too much for his already injured lungs and he fell back against the table, gasping for breath as the guards hoisted him up and started dragging him to the door.

"Think about your answer." Klement said as Harry tried to hold back the nausea as he looked down at the trail of blood that was following them across the room. "I need to know where the Hallows are, and you are going to tell me."


	15. Chapter 14: Torture

Chapter 14: _Torture_

Harry floated to consciousness with the happy-go-lightly feeling that he had experienced when he had woken the day before. His eyes fluttered in the shadow of the bunk above him and he slowly became aware of a loud argument occurring in the corridor outside his cell.

"Hey, Bud, you with me?"

Harry forced his eyes to swing to the right until they rested on the concerned gaze of Sam.

"Don't feel so good." He mumbled and Sam nodded.

"You've been out for over a day." He said. "The Doc is throwing a fit at them in the corridor. Apparently they gave you another dose of Glee before they delivered you to the medical room minus two of your toes. The story goes that you decided to stand on a sharp scythe whilst walking around the storeroom barefoot."

Harry snorted slightly at the sarcasm in his friend's voice. "Did she manage to save them?"

Sam shook his head. "They weren't delivered with the rest of you unfortunately. The best she could do was stitch you up and give you anti-inflammatories. It wasn't until your blood pressure went a bit loopy that she realised they had given you another dose of the not-so-good stuff."

Harry clenched his eyes together and grunted as cramp shot up his right leg, gripping his calf tight and making his knee jerk. He tried breathing through the pain, but his ribs protested and his stomach rebelled, causing him to fall over the side of his cot retching.

"Easy there, Champ." Sam said, whipping the metal bin under Harry's head and supporting the younger lad across his chest. "Here we go again."

Harry soon sensed that the doctor had joined them in the cell and was wiping a cool cloth across the back of his neck.

"Every time they give it to him the withdrawal is going to come on quicker and harder." She was quietly saying to Sam when Harry was able to relax enough to tune into their conversation. "It will quickly progress from just fevers and sickness to cramps and major organ distress. He will die in a couple of weeks if they continue to dose him every couple of days."

"Do you even know what they want with him?" Sam asked in an equally low voice.

Harry cracked his eyes open enough to see the Doctor shake her head. "I know who he is and everyone knows what he has been through. The guards keep referring to a visitor that comes to speak with him. I can only presume it is something to do with him."

Harry groaned as his stomach clenched again, but luckily this time he didn't feel the need go diving off the side of his mattress again.

"Mr Clay… er, Harry. Can you hear me?"

Harry nodded slightly, as much as his stiff neck would allow.

Doctor Cornish knelt next to his head so that he didn't have to strain himself to focus on her. "We have to get you out of here, Harry." She said quietly. Harry's eyes glanced to the door where Sam was casually leaning against the entrance to the cell, keeping look-out. "If they keep giving you Glee then you are going to die. I know I wasn't going to help you before, but I honestly thought they were just going to keep you here and that your friends would find you before you were here too long. We don't have that sort of time anymore, do you understand me?"

Harry nodded his head slightly, his heart fluttering slightly in fear with the level of concern she was emitting.

"Who do I need to get a message to? I will try and get a message out as soon as I can, but who is the best person to contact?"

Harry stayed quiet a moment, trying to push past the increasingly bad headache and queasy feeling in his stomach in order to establish a name. He thought through his friends, the Weasleys and the school before he came to a decision.

"The Minister of Magic." He said. "Kingsley Shacklebolt."

Doctor Cornish looked at him in disbelief. "How about someone who will actually listen to me?"

"He'll listen." Harry said. "We know each other pretty well and I have no doubt that he'll have his ear to the ground for any contact from myself."

"And how will I make him listen?" the Doctor said. "Can you imagine how many possible sightings and calls of good intentions the Ministry will be receiving right about now? It may take a while before I can get away from this island without drawing attention to myself and we can't risk them giving you another dose of that vile drug before help arrives."

Harry closed his eyes and breathed deep through yet another wave of nausea. "Just say you are a friend of Hedwig. She was my owl. She died during the war so should get their attention pretty quick."

Doctor Cornish nodded. "I hope so." She said. "I have no way of stopping them from taking you from here. I don't know what they want from you, but it's clear that they aren't going to hold back with causing you pain."

"This Glee, does it do things to your magic?" Harry asked, thinking back to his encounter with Klement and his observations about keeping Harry in a magic-free zone.

Doctor Cornish considered his question a bit before answering. "Some say that it gives their magic a boost in the moments when it takes hold." She said. "Mostly it just gives people a feeling of being invincible, takes away their inhibitions and fears of being hurt. If, by doing that, it takes away any mental restraints a person naturally puts on their magic then I guess your magic could get stronger. But then you have to counter that with the fact that within a couple of hours you'll already be hitting the withdrawal. The more you take the worse they get. The worse they get, the less likely you'll feel any affects should you take another dose!"

Harry nodded. "Just wondering." He said with a sigh.

"Get some rest," the Doctor said. "I'll do my best to get out of here this afternoon. Hopefully you'll be out of here within a few days."

Harry slept for the rest of the day and through the night, waking up several times to throw-up and drink some water that Sam diligently fed him. Each and every time Harry would thank him for his help and Sam would just smile at him, telling him that he was glad he could help.

When morning came, it wasn't surprising that Spencer and his little group of guards turned up at the cell door.

"C'mon, Clayman." Spencer said gleefully, shaking the bottom of the bunks and then reaching in and grabbing Harry upright by his upper arm. "You have a visitor."

"I really don't want to go." Harry said, trying to stand on his own but struggling with his heavily bandaged right foot.

"Like you have a choice." Spencer said. He raised his baton threateningly when Sam tried to get of his bunk to come to Harry's aid. "You stay right there, Whyte." He said. "Don't think we won't use you to appeal to Clayman's humane side to get what we want."

Harry glanced to his new friend and shook his head. "Just stay here." He said. "It'll be okay."

Sam just shook his head sadly as Harry was dragged out of his cell and back towards the dingy little room where Klement was standing waiting for him.

"Harry! So glad you are awake and well. When you passed out the other day I was worried we wouldn't have the chance to speak again."

"If you stopped dosing me up with Glee then maybe that chance would improve."

Klement just smiled, reminding Harry of a shark as he indicated that the guards should put him on the table. "Strip his top off, face down." He said.

Harry struggled as the guard proceeded to pull of his top, he heard it tear as they pulled at it and he felt the sharp pain of his healing ribs as they wrestled his arms up over his head.

He tried to slide away from them as they flipped him on the table, no consideration at all for his injuries as they pressed down on his shoulders, gripping his wrists tightly and another two guards took their places to hold down his legs.

Klement squatted down at the end of the table so that he was eye height to Harry. "So, do we need to go through the pain or will you tell me where to find the wand?"

Harry rolled his eyes from his restrained position. "There are better ways to ask people." He said. "If you had just arranged a meeting in England with me and politely asked for information about the wand and the stone, I would've told you the same thing I'm going to tell you know. I dropped the stone when I didn't need it anymore. I hid the wand then Obliviated the memory so that it wouldn't end up in the wrong hands. There is no point in torturing me anymore. I can't tell you anything else."

Klement paused, considering Harry's words. "Fair enough." He said. "We can work on retracing your steps. No doubt we'll come across them at some point." He smiled again. "How about we work on the other little mystery's that revolve around you?"

Harry frowned, "What mystery?"

"How you survived the killing curse. I would like to test a theory." Klement indicated to someone over Harry's shoulder and Harry watched as a needle was brought into his view and passed to Klement. "This is a place of no magic and I have no doubt that you, a person with such an affinity with magic, have already experienced the disconcerting disassociation of having no access to the flows around here. Let's see what it will take to overcome that."

Harry started to struggle as Klement approached him with the needle and pressed it against his upper arm. Within moments of the liquid being injected into his bloodstream Harry started to feel the now familiar sense of weightlessness overcome him.

"Now, Glee has been known to boost magical strength in wizards, I think it would be interesting to see what a little pain can do when your magic is so determined to perform the miracle escapes that you are so well known for."

Harry suddenly sensed something very hot behind him and struggled to turn his head to see what they were going to do with him. He barely managed to get his head turned halfway when he suddenly felt an intense pain running across his right shoulder blade and down to the middle of his back.

He bucked in pain, fighting against his captors in order to escape the torture. Even with the Glee in his system all his nerves were firing at their strongest, causing bright lights to shoot across his vision and he bit into his lips as his cry of pain fell into a groan.

He clenched his jaw as the pressure on his back was removed, but the pain remained. He shook under the hands of the guards and he looked in front of him to see Klement grinning at him.

"Anything?" he asked. "Any urges to apparate? Maybe to throw us across the room? Do you feel any tingly feelings in your fingers maybe?"

Harry just closed his eyes and let his forehead fall against the metal table.

Within moments the pain returned, this time against his left shoulder blade. He could feel his skin sticking to whatever it was they were pushing against his back when they came to pull it away. With a sob he closed his eyes and relaxed, allowing the Glee in his system to chase away the pain and the darkness to black out the flashing colours behind his eyes.

Harry next woke up to the sensation of being moved though his mind was too fuzzy for him to make sense of what was going on around him. At one point he thought he could hear Sam shouting his name, but he couldn't trust his senses because his next memory involved Ginny gently touching his cheek and telling him to hold on.

His hooded eyes captured glimpses of grey corridors then a cloudy sky before he was dropped to the floor. He rubbed his face into the ground, taking in the smell of freshly turned earth and pine wood.

There was a group of people surrounding him and he could hear nonsensical male voices arguing over his head, the only word he could recognise was that of his own name. The shadows that fell across his face were indicative of gesticulating arms as the argument came to a close.

It seemed an age, but could also have been only a couple of minutes, before he was lifted again and then placed face down onto a harder surface. He struggled to open his eyes to see where he was when he felt a sharp prick in the back of his neck. Within moments the world spun again as Glee flooded his into his system and made everything seem so insignificant.

Then the world went dark and with a sigh Harry closed his eyes to sleep.


	16. Chapter 15: Rescue

Chapter 15: _Rescue_

Kingsley sat in his new office in the Ministry of Magic and sighed as he read another long report from the search team assigned to searching for Harry. The enquiries detailed persons spoken to, locations searched and even had a magical copy of the interview one of the Aurors had done with the Muggle media appealing for any witnesses to come forward.

It was baffling. The attack on the village had been violent and sudden, no one had been killed but there were a number of people, students and adults alike, who had been injured in the initial blast. The panic of Harry's closest friends had been heart-breaking. They had continued to fight when Harry had been drugged and whisked off by the wizard on the broom, but it hadn't been long before the rest of the offenders had apparated away.

No one had come forward for a ransom, which is what the Aurors had been expecting initially. There had been no murmurs or intelligence to suggest that Death Eaters were planning an uprising, which would have been the obvious choice for the kidnappers identity.

It had now been 10 days since Harry had been taken. To start with Ginny had been inconsolable, stating that he had promised that he would never leave her again, but she had regained her Weasley courage and her determination overrode her vulnerability. Hermione and Ron drifted closer again, constantly reassuring each other that their friend was okay by gently touches, hugs and eye contact. Harry's other friends had rallied together, helping with creating posters to hang in Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade and other magical villages.

He let his head fall wearily onto one hand and absently rested his eyes on the pile of post in the corner of his desk. He frowned when he saw the top one had his name scrawled on the envelope and underneath "REFERENCE HEDWIG" in clear script.

He reached his hand out slowly, a frown on his face as he pulled it closer to him. His heart stuttered as he started to open the envelope, quickening his movements as he unfolded the letter and started reading the missive from Doctor Cornish.

Immediately he jumped up from the desk and went to his fireplace, calling out "The Burrow" before disappearing in the flames.

When he arrived at the Burrow the living room was empty and he walked through to the kitchen, slightly larger and better equipped thanks to Harry's use of the Elder Wand.

"Hello!" he called, looking towards the stairs to see if anyone was going to come down.

Within a couple of minutes he heard a returned greeting, but not from inside but from Bill who was walking in from the garden.

"Kingsley! I wasn't expecting you. Mum and dad are at Hogwarts at the moment if you're looking for them? I was just improving the wards a bit."

Kingsley shook Bill's offered hand, and then held out the letter with the other.  
>Bill's gaze shot up, his eyes wide as he registered what was written. "We've found him?"<p>

Kingsley nodded. "Maybe" he said. "The envelope was referenced to Hedwig, so it must be someone who has made contact with Harry that has sent the information."

Bill looked down again. "I don't know anyone by the name of Doctor Cornish."

Kingsley agreed. "But if she's at the Hoosegow prison then that would be off the coast of America. She's probably never been to England."

"What would he be doing out there?"

Kingsley indicated to the letter. "Getting in a bit of scrape if the letter has anything to go by." He watched as Bill looked down to read the letter again. "Look, this is the best lead we've had all week but I don't want to send a large rescue party out. It would be a political nightmare trying to get into the prison, though I think it can be managed if I pull in a few favours. Do you want to come with me to the prison? If what the letter says is true and he's been dosed with Glee, chances are he's going to need a friendly face whilst I deal with the politics side."

Bill leant back against the kitchen side. "Of course I'll go." He said. "But what about Ginny, or Hermione and Ron? Wouldn't they want to go?"

"I'm sure they do." Kingsley said. "But I'm concerned Harry is going to be in a bad way. I'm going to get a couple of Aurors back us up and have Poppy come with as well. If he's been dosed up with Glee then he is going to have to go through a detox. It isn't going to be pleasant and often users become very sensitive to magic as the drug leaves the system, so we'll have to limit the number of wizards that go near him. I'm planning on booking a muggle hotel nearby, maybe even on the island as long as we can provide enough protection for him whilst he gets better. Once he's strong enough we'll bring him home, by muggle plane if necessary."

Bill nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Are you going to tell mum and dad, or even the school, that we may have a lead?"

Kingsley nodded. "I'll leave a message for your dad when we've gone. I don't want to chance the fact they may refuse to be left at home. I know what your family is like when one of their own is threatened!"

Bill smiled. "Yeah. Which is why I'm happy to go. When are we leaving?"

"Pack a bag." Kingsley said. "If you can get hold of any clothes that might fit Harry, then pack those as well. I'll see you at the Ministry in an hour?"

Bill nodded. "See you there."

* * *

><p>Kingsley, Bill and a small team of Auror's strode up to the main gates of Hoosegow prison just as the sun was setting in the local time. Kingsley had worked hard to get the American Minister to approve their impromptu visit and it had taken time to get the authorisation put in paper for the Prison's warden and arrange for some American Aurors to meet them there.<p>

As they approached a small number of guards met them at the gate. One short wizard dressed in a smart suit and tie stepped forward to greet them, his hand was steady as he greeted them but he couldn't hide the nervousness in his eyes.

"Minister Kingsley, my name is Warden Bryant. I was called by our Minister of Magic to allow you access and guide you around our prison."

Kingsley nodded his thanks as he shook the warden's hand. "Thank you." He said.

Warden Bryant gestured through the gates and they started making their way across the yard escorted by a small number of prison guards that stared suspiciously at the Kingsley and Bill and their American Auror escort.

"It's all a bit short notice I'm afraid and our Minister didn't really explain the reason for your visit…?"

"We have an interest in one of your prisoners that has been incarcerated recently. One Harry Clayman?"

The warden stumbled slightly but gathered himself as they stepped into the main building. "Harry Clayman? He has only recently been admitted to ourselves. Can I ask the reason for your interest?"

Kingsley looked down at the warden. "We have reason to believe that there may have been a case of mistaken identity. If you could take us to where he is currently being held so we can satisfy that it isn't someone we are concerned about then we can soon be on our way."

Warden Bryant took a deep breath. "Then please follow me."

He led the way and Kingsley could sense the nervous tension with the prison staff and could well imagine the fall-out that would be occurring once they find Harry.

They walked down several corridors before they started passing cells on either side, the doors off-set so that prisoners couldn't communicate with those in the rooms opposite. Before too long the warden stopped outside one cell and indicated to one of the guards to open it.

Kingsley and Bill eagerly pressed forward to see if their friend was inside, but were almost disappointed to see a different young man jump down from the bunks and walk towards them.

"Harry Clayman?" Kingsley asked.

The young man shook his head. "Sam Whyte." He said. "You come for Harry?"

Bill looked at the concern etched in the young man's face and felt a glimmer of recognition. "Sam Whyte? Didn't you used to go to Hogwarts?"

Sam gave them a relieved smile. "Yeah. Was taken in the first war and ended up here."

"What did you do?"

Sam shrugged. "Nothing. My parents worked for the ministry and were taken. I've been here ever since."

"You know Harry?"

Sam nodded. "Potter?" he said. "Yeah, he was here." He looked to the guards standing outside his cell. "They took him away this morning and I haven't seen him since. But he was in a bad way."

The Aurors that were accompanying the rescue team jumped forward as one of the guards snarled at Sam and tried to force his way into the cell.

"Hey!" Bill shouted, pushing him back before he could gain access into the room. It didn't take long for the Aurors to push him further back down the corridor and hold him away.

Kingsley stared at the man, then turned back to Sam. "Are you sure that it was Harry Potter that was here with you?"

Sam nodded. "I keep up to date with the news from home. I've seen what's been going on in England. Harry has become a bit of a hero of mine to be honest, but don't tell him that."

Kingsley turned to the warden. "Were you aware that it was Harry Potter that was being held here? "

Warden Bryant shuffled from foot to foot before shrugging slightly. "I was told his name was Harry Clayman."

"What was he being held for?"

"I was told he was a danger to the public and was being imprisoned due to killing a man."

Sam scoffed from inside the cell. "And so you put someone supposedly convicted for murder in the minimum security wing of the prison?"

Kingsley looked to the warden again who shot a glare at his prisoner before turning a blank face to the visitors. "Were you seriously unaware of whom it was you were holding prisoner?"

Warden Bryant opened his mouth, but hesitated before trying to speak.

"Never mind." Kingsley said. "Where is Potter now?"

"I honestly don't know." Bryant said.

Kingsley turned to one of the American Aurors who had accompanied them into the prison. "Get in touch with your Minster. I want more Aurors here as soon as possible to assist with a full search of this facility. I want every prisoner accounted for. As it is I suspect they are going to be conducting a full investigation of the prison and its staff to confirm just how many people here have been unfairly incarcerated."

The warden gulped slightly before glancing back to the guards and Kingsley turned to Sam. "You will come with us." He said. "I will arrange for the transfer papers to be complete as soon as we are back in England where we will review your crimes and whether or not time has been served. Meantime you will help us search for Harry."

Sam grinned briefly before looking concerned for his new friend again. "They used to take him down this way." He said, pointing down the corridor. "I'm not too sure how much you know, but they've been giving him doses of Glee for the pain pretty much constantly, especially after they cut off his toes…."

"What?" Bill exclaimed.

Sam looked to him and then picked up the pace as he led them away from his cell. "I don't know what they were trying to get out of him. But the guards used to drag him away where some guy – supposedly from the American equivalent of the Department of Mysteries – questioned him about the Hallows. I don't know if they ever got anything out of him. But he came back last time with two toes missing and then they dragged him out again early this morning. He was barely with it this morning, I had been up with him all night as he suffered the after-effects of the Glee."

He paused at the door to the store room where Harry had been held. "From what he managed to tell me, I'd say he was held in there." He said. "Though he wasn't really in a condition to tell me much."

Kingsley nodded and with a gesture to proceed, Bill pushed open the door.

Immediately their senses were flooded with the smell of burning flesh. The room was empty of people with a metal table in the middle of the room and a smaller table to one side with several long metal bars resting on it. One of the Aurors walked over to it and picked up one of the metal rods, looking carefully at the end before turning back.

"Looks like human skin." He said. "I imagine they heated it then pressed it against his skin as torture." He frowned as he looked down the length of the rod. "Looks like it's gonna leave a pretty big scar."

Kingsley nodded grimly. "Let's get back to the main entrance and start coordinating a full search. Start interviewing the guards to find out where he went."

Sam stepped forward slightly. "I can help identify those who took him away." He looked to the door. "I'd personally start with Dillon." He said, pointing out the guard that had tried to go for him back at the cell and who had shown a particular interest in harming Harry.

Kingsley nodded to one of his Aurors who stepped forward and gripped the guard's arm tightly before leading him away from the room. Kingsley shared a grave look with Bill before he followed.

* * *

><p>When Harry woke he found himself lying face down on a hard, dusty surface. He moved his head slightly, grazing his cheek across what felt like wood before opening his eyes.<p>

At least he felt that he had given the signal to open his eyes, though when he felt they were open it was just as dark as when he had been unconscious. He tried raising one of his hands up from where it was lying by his side to touch his eyes and check they were open, but winced as his elbow connected sharply with a solid surface.

He tried lifting his head up and again found resistance from something solid above him. Trying to suppress the growing sense of panic and claustrophobia he managed to get his hand to his face by pulling it up under his body. Even though that he was sure his eyes were open, he couldn't help by confirming this by pushing one finger gently against his eye.

With a deep breath that pulled against the wet tightness across his back, Harry started feeling around his head, running his fingers over the walls and ceiling. With a kick of his legs he realised that they too were restricted in this tight place.

With a sob that he hadn't even felt building up he managed to pull his other arm up under his body and tried to turn himself over with no avail, there just wasn't enough room to be able to turn his shoulders. He instead started running his shaking fingers along the joints of the wooden box he was enclosed in trying not to think about the taste of earth on his tongue as his breathing became more and more frantic.

He winced as he felt one of his nails pull back in his desperation to find an escape, and as he felt warm blood pool at its tip he changed tactics by pushing against the floor and pressing his injured shoulders up into the wood above.

He heaved with all his might, screaming with frustration as he felt no give in the wood above him. He fell against the floor again, his chest heaving and heart pounding as allowed his mind to come to the conclusion that he was held captive in a box and, if the smell of freshly turned earth was anything to go by, buried in the ground as well.

His breath caught in his chest as he realised that there was no way of getting more oxygen into the box with him. He gasped another sob, running through possible equations in his mind to work out how much oxygen and time he would have left before concluding that even if he knew how long he had already been buried for, he didn't have the training needed to be able to work out that sort of equation in his head.

He thought immediately went to Hermione, who would no doubt have been able to tell him precisely how much cubic feet of air would have been in the box with him, and how long a person breathing normally would have. Of course the time would have to be halved with the rate he was breathing at the moment.

Harry made the effort to start slowing his breathing down, his head spinning slightly as he realised that probably didn't have as long as he thought. He wrapped his arms around his head and let the tears that building up fall down his cheek and into the dust below. He had never felt so alone.

As time passed, Harry became aware of it becoming increasingly difficult to breathe. He tried to keep each breath as light as possible, but his chest was pulling hard to get enough oxygen to stay conscious and it was with a slight sigh that Harry let his mind close down, counting the slowing beats of his heart as he allowed the darkness to take over.

The darkness was shattered by a flash of light and Harry opened his eyes, holding his breath that someone had somehow found him and was digging him out. He steeled his strength and pushed up with his shoulders again but when he felt no give above him Harry put the light down to his lack of oxygen and let his eyes flutter shut again, his head hitting the floor of his coffin, for he had come to conclusion that that was what he was lying in.


	17. Chapter 16: Withdrawal

Chapter 16: _Withdrawal_

Harry almost expected to find himself in the train station where he had been met by Dumbledore last time. He was almost hoping that one of his parents, or maybe even Sirius, would be there to take him by the hand and lead him to the afterlife, or wherever it was they were now. But this time the first thing he became aware of was a voice close to his ear, a shadow moving across the sunshine that shone into the hole he was lying in.

The second thing he became aware of was the knifing pain in his chest as he struggled to draw in breath. He opened his eyes as he felt his muscles across his abused back spasm and felt his arms twitch uncontrollably.

"Ron?" he asked as he looked up to see a halo of red around the person who had somehow managed to climb down into the narrow hole with him.

"Close enough." The man said, reaching down to gently put a hand on an uninjured part of Harry's shoulder then said something else that Harry's befuddled mind couldn't register.

"Feel weird." Harry tried to speak through his bloodied lips, the world spinning as the twitching in his arms became more and more pronounced. He could feel his thighs and his muscles across his lower back start to do the same, his remaining toes curling into tight balls as the spasms spread throughout his body.

He felt himself shout, limbs beginning to strike against the box he was still lying in as well as the legs of whichever Weasley brother had climbed in with him.

He heard his name shouted urgently several times but the pain started to overwhelm all his senses. He suddenly tasted bile and was shocked to discover that he had vomited, but his muscles remained uncooperative and he ended up sucking up the most of what he had regurgitated in his next breath.

He began to choke even more and barely registered someone else reaching down into the hole with him to help his saviour grip him under his arms and, with a sudden pull that sent him once more into the darkness, lifted him from his grave.

* * *

><p>He didn't know how much time had passed before he woke to several male voices talking about him.<p>

He pressed his face into the pillows as had become the habit after his regular misadventures and tried to recall what had happened to him this time in order to have people speaking about him in such concerned voices.

It was more reaction than a memory that caused him to lash out, pushing against walls that were no longer there as he fought his way out of the box he had been trapped in.

Just as quick as the reaction took to set in Harry felt someone hovering near him, gripping his hands and calming him down with a soft baritone.

Harry took a couple of deep breaths and opened his eyes, blinking through glass-less myopia to make out the scarred face of Bill Weasley kneeling down beside his bed.

"Bill?" Harry croaked, barely able to understand himself with the dry sensation in his throat.

"Welcome back, Harry." Bill said with a relieved smile, still gripping Harry's hands tightly in his own.

"We home?" Harry tried to convey, but it seemed Bill either understood him or had anticipated his question.

"Not yet, buddy." He said. He looked over his shoulder as someone said something behind him. He nodded and turned back to Harry. "Listen, there is something important I have to tell you and I want you to try hard to listen. Understand?"

Harry nodded, tension in his chest causing his breath to start coming in hitches and the muscles in his face begin to tighten.

"Whilst you were held captive they fed you a drug called Glee. It's illegal in Britain because it's highly addictive and the muscle tensions you are experiencing are due to the withdrawal."

Harry looked down to where his hands were being gripped by Bill's and could see his wrists jerking uncontrollably. His breath caught in his chest as he felt a pressure building up at the back of his head and his large muscles in his thighs began to clench uncomfortably.

"Harry, listen to me." Bill said, bringing Harry's attention back to him. "Pomfrey is on her way to look after you but it is important that you remember that, no matter how much it hurts, it will get better. It's likely to get worse first, but it will get better. Understand?"

Harry barely registered the words as another fit overtook him, ripping his hands away from Bill's as his back arched and a scream ripped from his throat, his head painfully hitting the headboard of the bed he was lying in and his left wrist connecting forcefully with the bedside table next to him, but the sound of cracking bone was lost to Harry, who felt himself caught up in a never ending whirlpool of pain.

* * *

><p>When Harry's eyes next opened he gazed blankly at out-dated orange-flowered wallpaper before wincing against the sunlight streaming in through the drapes that fell either side of the bay windows.<p>

His head pounded and he tried to free an arm to rub his face but found with a panic that he was laying face down, his arms apparently trapped by his sides.

With an overwhelming sense of deja-vu, Harry fought against that which held him to the bed, wincing as his bandaged fingertips dragged against a resisting material and crying out when his right foot banged against his left shin.

His cry didn't go unheard and he spun his head around, fighting against the darkness that edged around his eyesight as the pain peaked in order to see if his company was friend or foe.

"Settle down, Mister Potter. You're safe now."

Harry squinted against the sunlight and was grateful when, with a couple of movements, the witch that had entered drew the curtains, casting the room in soothing shadow.

He blinked up again at the witch next to him, turning his head against what he now recognised as a soft mattress as opposed to a wooden box and frowned as he recognised her silhouette.

"Do you recognise me, Harry?" the witch asked, her knees cracking slightly as she bent down to make it easier to see into her face.

Harry frowned, fighting against the aching and weariness to sort through his memories for a name. Images of white-washed walls and large windows appeared forefront in his mind, as well as the smell of antiseptic and pain-relief potions.

"Poppy." He muttered, his throat hurting as if he had been shouting at the top of his voice for several hours.

The older witch nodded, smiling gently as she reached out and gently brushed some hair out of Harry's face.

"You've been through the wringer again, Mister Potter." She said gently. "How are you feeling?"

Harry tried to assess his injuries, fleeting images of what he had been through distracting him as he worked his way down his body from his aching head, past the tightness in his shoulders and pain in his right foot.

"Harry?"

Harry looked back to the Hogwarts nurse. "Not good." He admitted, not able to muster the energy to say anything else. He looked around once more. "Where are we?" he asked.

"Mainland America." The medi-witch replied. "We couldn't move you any further due to your condition." She gently ran a finger down the side of his face. "I'm not going to lie to you, Mister Potter, but you had us all worried there. Again." She added with a small smile which faded quite quickly. "And I'm afraid to say it's going to take a while before you bounce back from this one."

Harry frowned, his heart rate increasing at the concerned note in her voice.

"Why?" he asked tentatively.

"I'll explain more when you're feeling better." Madame Pomfrey said. "But you need to be aware of what's likely to happen to you over the next few days. The pain killers you were given in the prison are highly addictive and are actually illegal in many countries due to their highly addictive nature and the amount they were being misused by wizards using them for recreational purposes. From what we can ascertain, you've been receiving proportionately heavy doses for over a week. You have already started going through withdrawal but thankfully you've been unconscious these past couple of days. It's not going to get any easier I'm afraid. And I suspect there are going to be repercussions that you are going to have to cope with for the rest of your life."

Harry struggled to comprehend what she was saying. He could remember the injections he had been given, in fact he could still feel the tightness in the areas where they had stabbed the needle, and he could remember the light, euphoric feeling that quickly followed the sharp pain of the thick liquid entering his veins.

"What's going to happen to me?" he asked, a deep sense of panic beginning to take over.

The medi-witch took a deep breath to steady herself. "At the moment, extreme tiredness. Aching in your muscles. You probably won't be able to stomach any food for a couple of days without nausea…"

Harry sensed that the nurse wanted to say more, but didn't want to prompt her to voice whatever caused her to look at him with such worry and concern.

"… You will also experience intense seizures as your body tries to rid itself of the poison." She finally said. "At the moment they are frequent and intense but whilst you were unconscious you wouldn't have felt them." She brushed at Harry's fringe again. "They are going to hurt, Harry." She said. "They will hurt a lot. But you need to keep fighting, okay? We're here with you and will help you as much as we can, but due to the nature of the potion they were giving you, anything containing magical properties is only going to make the seizures worse. But they will fade with time. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded, his shoulders tensing slightly as he felt a sharp muscle twinge in the base of his back.

He looked up at Madame Pomfrey with panic in his eyes and she took his bandaged left hand and held it tight between her own.

"We're here, Harry." She said. "We're not going anywhere."

Harry didn't even have time to respond as all the muscles in his back cramped up, causing him to scream out. It was worse than anything he had ever felt before, including the cruciatus curse. His legs kicked out, his arms wrapped in under himself as his back arched and breath came in short, sharp gasps, preventing him from screaming out a second time. The tightness was continuous, never letting up. Harry began to wish that the pain would come in waves, like the cruciatus, so that at least he could feel relief from the strain, but the pain continued indefinitely, never letting up until he felt something release in the pressure behind his eyes, and the blackness took him.

* * *

><p>When Harry next woke up, it was to find something cool and damp being rested against the back of his neck as he lay on his front.<p>

He opened his eyes to find the room lit by a couple of dated lamps in the corners, and within moments his view was blocked by the familiar face of Bill Weasley.

"Hi there," he said with a small smile.

Harry frowned slightly, vaguely recalling that he had mistaken Bill for Ron when they had saved him from the coffin.

"What time is it?" he croaked and sat up slightly as Bill reached for a glass of water with a straw and helped him take a sip.

"About three in the morning." Bill said. "You have woken up a couple of times since you spoke with Pomfrey yesterday, but I doubt you really remember much of that."

Harry shook his head, regretting the movement as his brain felt like it had become dislodged and was floating around unrestrained.

"Is there anything I can get for you?" Bill asked.

"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked.

"Back at Hogwarts." The eldest Weasley son replied easily. "She wanted to come but we managed to convince her to stay until you are well enough to travel back to Hogwarts. She wasn't too happy about it, and neither were Hermione and Ron, but considering what you're going through and your sensitivity to magic we are trying to keep visitors to a minimum."

Harry felt his heart ache at the worry they must've been going through and attempted to push himself up, fighting against the soreness in his muscles and the pain across his shoulder blades from the burns.

"Where do you think you're going?" Bill said, helping Harry keep his balance and not topple off the bed as he tried to swing his legs around.

"I need to see Ginny." He said, panting with the effort of trying to get his body to obey. "I promised her I wouldn't leave her again."

Bill laughed slightly. "I don't think she's going to blame you this time, Harry." He said, putting a hand against Harry's chest in attempt to stop him from getting up. "She knows what's happened and that you're now safe and here with me. Mum will be joining us soon so let us get you a little stronger and then we'll get you home."

Harry slumped against the bed, cursing his lack of energy. His heart stopped momentarily in panic as the muscles in his right arm jerked, causing him to hit Bill's hand.

"How long are these… seizures going to last?" Harry asked when his arm failed to make any further involuntary movements.

Bill shook his head, taking a seat next to Harry once he saw that he was no longer trying to stand. "Pomfrey doesn't know." He said. "Kingsley is refusing to allow anyone else to come here apart from mum, Pomfrey and members of the original team of Aurors that came to rescue you. We have been taking advice from St. Mungos, but once again you are a medical marvel. There aren't that many people who have survived the doses that you have been given. I think the guards were kinda hoping you wouldn't to be honest, and they got a little impatient with you when they… well, you know."

Harry fought a shudder as he recalled the darkness he had woken up in.

"Pomfrey is back in London at the moment, trying to get some more books to research from. But she should be back with mum tonight. She wanted me to ask you to start grading your seizures. Let us know how bad they are on a ten-point scale. Just so we can establish if there is some sort of pattern."

Harry nodded, but couldn't meet the concerned gaze of his friend.

"Harry, look at me." Harry reluctantly looked up. "You will get through this. If only to allow Ginny the chance to have a go at you when you get home."

Harry smiled slightly and Bill nodded with encouragement. "I just wanna be home." He said tiredly, aware of how much he sounded like a sulking child.

"We can't take you by magical means." Bill explained. "Else we would've already had you in your bed back in the infirmary with all your get-well and welcome home cards. As soon as you're strong enough to move, Kingsley will arrange some sort of muggle transportation, most likely a private aeroplane, to get you home."

Harry nodded, sensing that Bill actually meant that they were waiting for the seizures to subside.

He sat in silence for a few moments before the world suddenly tilted, darkness surrounding his vision as he felt the side of his head hit a pillow. It took a couple of minutes for him to feel more human again, but once again his body was attacked by fits without any warning.

He gritted his teeth against the pain, rocking back and forth against the bed as his body contorted unnaturally. The seizure didn't seem as intense as the last one he had been conscious for though, and he let out a loud groan as his muscles relaxed, tears streaming from the corner of his eyes as his stomach suddenly rebelled and he lurched to the side of the bed to vomit onto the floor.

He felt a hand rest lightly on his back, between the two large wounds on his back, that he had not yet seen but that he was constantly aware of due to the sticky sensation and soreness they admitted.

"Harry?" Bill asked after a few minutes after Harry's stomach had finished emptying itself.

Harry shook his head, pressing his chin against the edge of the mattress and twisting his head so that he could rest it against his bandaged fingers.

"Harry, here, take a sip of water."

Harry let the straw be guided into his mouth and took the smallest of sips, before pulling his head away and pushing himself over onto his back, crying out in pain as he put pressure on his shoulders.

"Seven." He whispered with closed eyes, as the cool cloth reappeared and was laid against his forehead.

"What was that?" Bill asked.

Harry cracked open one eye to look at his friend. "You wanted me to grade them." He said. "If the first was a ten. Then this was more like a seven."

"The first…?" Bill frowned, before understanding changed his features. "You've had more than two." He explained at Harry's look. "The first twenty-four hours were the worst. You were fitting a couple of times every hour and it took all of Poppy's skills just to keep you breathing at times."

Harry groaned as he took in Bill's words. "Why is it always me?" he muttered.

"I wish we knew." Bill said. "Cause at least then we could share it all out a bit." He patted Harry's arm. "You think you'd be up for something to eat? You've probably got an hour or so to digest before anything else happens and Poppy wanted you to get your energy levels up as much as possible. You don't look like you've eaten a lot over the past few weeks."

Harry nodded his acquiescence and Bill left the room momentarily, returning with a bowl of steaming soup and a bread roll.

"Nothing too big." He said as he helped Harry settle.

Harry took a couple of mouthfuls of soup, looking despondently down at where his bandaged foot poked up through the blankets.

"Is she going to be able to grow them back?" he asked between mouthfuls, nodding towards his foot.

Bill sniffed slightly before shaking his head. "We are very limited with what we can do at the moment because of your sensitivity to magic. Everytime you are exposed to something magical it triggers a seizure. We're even leaving our wands in the room outside at the moment."

Harry's eyes widened at Bill's explanation. "How does that work?" he asked. "Am I going to be able to use my wand again?"

Bill nodded. "We're still researching it but haven't found anything yet to say you shouldn't be able to. Once the seizures pass, we can start reintroducing you to magic slowly, see what kind of effect it will have on you."

"And my back?" Harry asked. "It still feels… well, raw."

"It is." Bill said regretfully. "Again, we can't give you any potions with ingredients that have magical properties to kill the pain. It'll just send you into another fit. Poppy's main concern is that, long term, you are going to have to steer clear of a lot of potions that have ingredients the same, or similar to, those that were in Glee they were injecting you with. Your body would probably react as it should originally, but then withdrawal would just kick in and you'd have to go through all this again."

Harry let the ramifications of Bill's explanation sink in, causing his stomach to turn slightly and the rest of the soup suddenly become unappetising. Bill noticed his face turn pale and reached out to take the food tray away.

"Why don't you rest for a bit?" He suggested. "Kingsley will probably pop in later on this morning. And mum will be with us by this evening."

Harry nodded, settling down on his side so that his shoulders weren't pressed into the mattress and sighed as weariness suddenly took over his body.

His eyes drooped slightly and he felt the muscles in his left leg start twitching uncontrollably.

"This is going to get tiring very quickly." He said with a groan as he pressed one of his hands against his thigh in an attempt to still it.

Bill chuckled slightly. "It will get better." He assured Harry as he dimmed the lights slightly.

* * *

><p>Over the course of the next morning, Harry suffered through another five seizures, and though the medi-witch assured him on her return that they would begin to ease off, the last two had happened within half-an-hour of one another, both reaching eights on Harry's new rating scale, and both causing him to vomit violently once the cramps had eased.<p>

The last one had Harry in tears, sobbing uncontrollably into his pillow as pain and weariness engulfed his battered body. He had been aware that he had been crying out during the last few minutes of his last fit, pleading for Pomfrey and Kingsley, who had been with them at the time, to give him another dose of Glee and to make it all go away.

Of course they had calmly declined and Harry felt a large amount of guilt for the hate-filled words he had screamed at them, falling into apologetic sobs as exhaustion and relief overcame him.


End file.
